THE  VIRGINIA  CON1NTION  OF  1776. 

A  DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED     BEFORE 


THE  VIRGINIA. 


PHI  BETA  KAPPA  SOCIETY, 

IN  THE   CHAPEL  OF 

WILLIAM    AND  MARY    COLLEGE, 
IN  THE  CITY  OF  WILLIAMSBURG, 

ON  THE  AFTERNOON  OF  JULY  THE  SRD,  1855. 
BY 


HUGH  BLAIR  GRIGSBY. 

n 


[PUBLISHED  BY  A  RESOLUTION  OF  THE  SOCIETY.] 


J.    W.    RANDOLPH, 

121    MAIN    STREET,    RICHMOND,    VA. 

1855. 


W.  H.  CLEMMITT,  PRINTER. 


n. 


£  7 


DISCOURSE. 


MR.  PRESIDENT  : 

Before  I  proceed  to  the  subject  which  I  have 
selected  for  the  present  occasion,  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing 
my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  the  society  in  which  you  preside, 
for  the  honor  of  admission  into  its  ranks,  and  my  delight  at  its 
re-establishment.  The  PHI  BETA  KAPPA  SOCIETY,  insti 
tuted  more  than  two-thirds  of  a  century  ago  within  the  walls  of 
William  and  Mary  by  some  of  Virginia's  noblest  sons,  and  inter 
twining  itself  since  with  the  most  eminent  colleges  of  the  Union, 
has  performed  an  office  of  incalculable  importance  in  the  history  of 
American  literature.  The  names  of  JOHN  MARSHALL,  BUSHROD 
WASHINGTON,  SPENCER  ROANE,  JOHN  NIVISON,  the  CABELLS,  the 
STUARTS,  HARDY,  PAGE,  COCKE,  the  BOOKERS,  the  SHORTS,  and 
others,  who  laid  its  foundations,  or  were  among  its  earliest  members, 
deserve  to  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance.*  The  most  eminent 
names  in  war  and  peace,  throughout  the  Union,  have  been  sub 
sequently  inscribed  upon  its  rolls.  Its  annual  gatherings  constitute 

*  The  names  of  the  original  members  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  estab 
lished  in  Williamsburg  on  the  fifth  of  December,  1776,  are  as  follows : 

John  Heath,  John  Nivison,  Thomas  Savage, 

Thomas  Smith,  Hartwell  Cocke,  John  Page, 

Richard  Booker,  Thomas  Hall,  William  Cabell, 

Armistead  Smith,  Samuel  Hardy,  John  Marshall, 

John  Jones,  Archibald  Stuart,  Bushrod  Washington, 

John  Stuart,  John  Brown,  Thomas  Lee, 

Daniel  Fitzhugh,  D.  C.  Brent,  Landon  Cabell, 

Theodore  Fitzhugh,  Thomas  Clements,  W.  Pierce, 

John  Starke,  Thomas  W.  Ballandine,  Richard  B.  Lee, 

Isaac  Hill,  Richard  Booker,  William  Madison, 

William  Short,  John  Moore,  John  Swann, 

John  Morrison,  Spencer  Roane,  Thomas  Cocke, 

George  Braxton,  William  Stith,  Paxton  Bowdoin, 

Henry  Hill,  W.  Stuart,  Alexander  Mason. 

John  Allen,  J.  J.  Beckley, 


271 


4  WILLIAMSBURG — ITS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

the  great  literary  jubilee  of  our  country.  Sir,  I  indulge  the  hope, — 
nay  more  than  hope, — the  firm  and  full  belief,  that  its  re-institution 
here,  in  the  place  of  its  birth,  appealing,  as  it  does,  with  irresistible 
power  to  our  love  of  letters  and  to  our  love  of  country,  is  an  omen 
of  cheering  import;  that  its  star  shall  be  obscured  no  more;  and 
that,  as  the  past  generations  beheld  its  genial  light,  so  the  genera 
tions  to  come  will  hail  its  influence  sweetly  and  charmingly  blended 
with  the  radiance  of  our  venerable  college,  now  and  henceforth, 
with  becoming  pride  and  joy. 

The  scene  before  me  suggested  the  subject  to  which  I  invite 
your  attention.  I  was  to  speak  in  Williamsburg,  the  metropolis  of 
the  Colony,  and  the  cradle  of  the  young  Commonwealth.  I  was  to 
address  a  society  instituted  by  some  of  the  patriot  fathers  of  the 
Republic.  I  was  to  speak  before  a  college  in  which  most  of  those 
patriot  fathers  were  nurtured.  I  was  to  speak  almost  within  the 
shadow  of  that  sacred  edifice  in  which  those  fathers  so  long  wor 
shipped,  in  which  they  bowed  beneath  the  chastisements  of  the 
Ruler  of  Nations  in  fasting  and  prayer,  at  the  altar  of  which  they 
put  forth  their  first  and  fervent  supplications  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  new  Commonwealth  which,  under  the  guidance  of  Providence, 
they  had  been  impelled  to  erect,  and  in  which  they  invoked  the  aid 
of  His  countenance,  who  had  guided  their  fathers  over  the  waters, 
who  had  shielded  them  amid  the  dangers  of  the  wilderness,  and 
who  had  blessed  them  with  prosperity  and  peace,  to  sustain  them 
in  the  fearful  contest  in  which  they  were  engaged.  And,  as  if  the 
glory  of  that  contest  were  inseparably  connected  with  this  ancient 
city  in  which  it  may  be  said  to  have  begun,  it  was  not  far  from 
hence  that  the  last  great  battle  of  the  Revolution  was  fought;  it 
was  here  that  the  booming  of  the  distant  artillery  was  heard,  as  the 
red  cross  of  St.  George  descended  to  the  dust,  and  the  stars  of 
America  and  the  lilies  of  France  proclaimed  to  the  distant  be 
holder  that  the  sceptre  of  Britain  was  broken  at  last,  and  the  inde 
pendence  of  our  beloved  country  established  forever. 

I  propose  to  treat  of  the  Convention  of  Virginia,  which  assem 
bled  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  this  city  on  the  6th 
day  of  May,  1776,  and  which  framed  the  first  Constitution  of  Vir 
ginia.  If  we  regard  the  circumstances  under  which  it  assembled, 
the  character  of  the  men  who  composed  it,  the  comprehensive  and 
invaluable  results  which  flowed  from  its  action— results  affectin^ 


THE   STATE   OF   THE   TIMES.  5 

the  destinies  not  only  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  of  the  other 
States  of  the  Union,  but  the  world  at  large,  its  importance  cannot 
be  too  highly  enhanced.  Indeed,  such  is  the  grandeur  of  the  sub 
ject,  that  I  might  well  shrink  from  undertaking  it,  and  I  truly  wish 
it  had  been  assigned  to  some  one  of  those  who  are  now  before  me, 
and  whose  genius  and  skill  would  invest  it  with  that  drapery  which 
would  so  richly  become  it.  But,  confident  in  the  goodness  of  my 
cause,  and  in  full  reliance  on  the  magnanimity  of  this  audience,  I 
proceed  to  discuss  it. 

It  is  proper  to  recall  the  state  of  the  times  when  the  Convention 
assembled  in  this  city.  For  more  than  ten  years  previously,  the 
Colony  had  been  full  of  anxiety  and  excitement.  The  financial 
embarrassments  of  England  had  become  pressing,  and  her  states 
men,  having  exhausted  the  resources  of  domestic  taxation,  felt 
constrained  to  look  abroad  for  new  subjects  of  revenue.  Hence 
the  series  of  measures  which  led  to  the  Revolution.  It  ought  not 
to  be  disguised,  that  the  Colonies,  especially  Virginia,  were  at 
tached  to  the  parent  country.  Fears  were  indeed  expressed  at  the 
British  Court  as  early  as  the  days  of  Charles  the  Second,  that  the 
New  England  Colonies  were  anxious  to  assume  a  republican  form 
of  government;*  but  full  reliance  was  always  placed  on  the  fidelity 
of  Virginia.  The  northern  Colonies,  occupying  a  sterile  soil,  were 
compelled,  in  self-defence,  to  engage  in  commerce  and  manufac 
tures,  and  totally  disregarded  from  the  earliest  period  the  naviga 
tion  laws  of  Great  Britain,!  and  traded  wherever  they  pleased. 
But  Virginia,  whose  inhabitants  were  engaged  in  cultivating  a 
genial  soil,  and  whose  productions  were  readily  sought  by  the  ships 
of  England,  had  few  inducements  to  embark  in  a  contraband  trade, 
and  never  made  any  progress  in  forming  a  commercial  marine  of 
her  own.  Her  connexion  with  England  was  consequently  more 
intimate  than  that  which  existed  between  the  New  England  Colo 
nies  and  the  parent  country.  Our  population  was  also  more  nearly 

*  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  John  Evelyn,  Vol.  II.,  59.     Anno  1671. 

I  See  Sir  William  Berkeley's  answers  to  the  inquiries  of  the  lords  commis 
sioners  of  foreign  plantations,  Hening,  Vol.  II.,  511,  and  the  Virginia  Histori 
cal  Register,  Vol.  III.,  11.  I  cannot  refer  to  the  Register  without  bearing  iny 
testimony  to  the  value  of  its  contents,  which  are  almost  indispensable  to  a 
correct  knowledge  of  our  history.  The  precious  letters  and  documents  which 
it  contains  are  worth  all  the  leaves  of  the  Sybils.  No  young  Virginian  should 
rest  satisfied  until  he  obtains  a  set  of  its  six  small  volumes  neatly  bound,  which 
may  be  had  of  the  editor  at  the  historical  rooms  in  Richmond. 


6  THE   STATE   OF   THE   TIMES. 

assimilated  in  manners  and  customs  to  that  of  England;  for,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  persons  from  Ireland,  and  from  France 
during  the  troubles  which  ensued  upon  the  revocation  of  the  edict 
of  Nantes,  our  emigrants  were  mainly  from  England  and  Scotland, 
and  cultivated  ample  freehold  estates  of  their  own.  Moreover,  the 
established  religion  of  England  was  also  the  established  religion  of 
the  Colony;  and,  although  perhaps,  at  no  time  did  it  embrace  a 
majority  of  the  whole  people,  it  was  heartily  sustained  by  those 
who  held  the  reins  of  colonial  authority.*  It  was  the  pride  of 
the  Virginia  planters  to  contemplate  the  power  and  glory  of  the 
mother  country.  They  were  descended  from  a  common  stock; 
they  spoke  a  common  language;  they  professed  the  same  form  of 
public  worship;  they  enjoyed  nearly  all  the  benefits  of  a  free  gov 
ernment  in  the  Colony,  and  were  protected  by  the  flag  of  Britain 
abroad.  Some  of  the  most  intelligent  statesmen  of  the  Colony 
regarded  Virginia  as  occupying  the  same  relation  toward  the  British 
Crown  as  was  borne  by  Scotland  before  the  union  of  that  country 
with  England,  and  holding  the  king  as  the  common  bond;!  a  doc 
trine  whi^h  would  seem  to  be  sustained  by  the  arms  of  the  Colony 
on  which  were  quartered  those  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
with  the  motto,  En  dat  Virginia  quart  am.  Nor  was  the  pride  of 
Virginia  offended  by  the  connexion.  She  believed  that  she  gave 
an  ample  equivalent  for  the  protection  of  the  British  flag  in  the 
profits  derived  from  her  commerce  ;  for  she  thought  that  Great 
Britain  might  well  protect  that  trade  which  she  arrogated  exclu 
sively  to  herself.  But  when  questions  of  a  local  nature  were  con 
cerned,  Virginia  practically  repudiated  the  interference  of  the 
British  parliament.  For  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  years  she 
had  levied  her  own  taxes ;  and  it  was  her  boast  that  the  poorest 
man  in  her  dominion  could  not  be  required  to  pay  a  tax  which  had 
not  been  laid  with  his  own  consent  given  by  his  immediate  repre 
sentative.  When  the  British  ministry  sought  to  disregard  this 
principle,  it  is  the  glory  of  Virginia  that  she  led  the  van  in  sus 
taining  the  common  rights  of  the  colonies.  Her  opposition  carried 
with  it  a  peculiar  influence,  and  it  was  as  decided  as  it  was  pecu 
liar.  The  passage  of  the  resolutions  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in 

*  Mr.  Jefferson  estimated  the  opponents  of  the  established  church  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  at  not  more  than  one-half  of  the  people. 

t  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Wythe  held  this  opinion.     Jefferson's  Works,  Vol.  I.,  6. 


THE  DECLARATION   OF   JULY,    1775.  7 

1765,  holding  its  sessions  in  this  city,  against  the  stamp  act,  was 
the  first  great  blow  which  British  supremacy  received  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  The  historian  of  America,  as  he  records  them  on 
his  pages,  will  delight  to  exhibit  them  as  the  first  great  act  of  the 
drama  of  the  Revolution.  Nor  was  this  measure  adopted  until  the 
usual  modes  of  appeal  had  been  pressed,  and  pressed  in  vain. 
Indeed  so  far  from  true  was  it,  that  independence  was  generally 
sought  in  the  beginning  of  the  troubles,  that,  to  pass  over  proofs, 
the  Convention  of  August,  1774,  had  met  and  adjourned ;  the  Con 
vention  of  March,  of  July,  and  of  December,  1775,  had  also  met 
and  adjourned,  without  the  expression  of  a  single  opinion  in  favor 
of  independence.  On  the  contrary,  at  the  close  of  the  Convention 
of  July,  1775,  the  body  published  a  "Declaration"  to  the  people, 
which  concluded  with  the  following  explicit  statement  of  their 
views.  "Lest  our  views  and  designs  should  be  misrepresented  or 
misunderstood,  we,  again  and  for  all,  publicly  and  solemnly  declare, 
before  God  and  the  world,  that  we  do  bear  faith  and  true  allegiance 
to  his  majesty,  George  the  Third,  our  only  lawful  and  rightful  king; 
that  we  will,  so  long  as  it  may  be  in  our  power,  defend  him  and  his 
government,  as  founded  on  the  laws  and  well  known  principles  of 
the  Constitution;  that  we  will,  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  pre 
serve  peace  and  order  throughout  the  country;  and  endeavor  by 
every  honorable  means  to  promote  a  restoration  of  that  friendship 
and  amity  which  so  long  and  happily  subsisted  between  our  fellow 
subjects  in  Great  Britain  and  the  inhabitants  of  America;  that  as, 
on  the  one  hand,  we  are  determined  to  defend  our  lives  and  pro 
perties,  and  maintain  our  just  rights  and  privileges  at  every,  even 
the  extremest  hazard,  so,  on  the  other,  it  is  our  fixed  and  unaltera 
ble  resolution  to  disband  such  forces  as  may  be  raised  in  this  Colony 
whenever  our  dangers  are  removed,  and  America  is  restored  to 
that  former  state  of  tranquility  and  happiness,  the  interruption  of 
wrhich  is  so  much  deplored  by  us  and  every  friend  to  either 
country."* 

*  Journal  Convention,  July,  1775,  page  28.  Mr.  Jefferson  in  a  letter  to  John 
Randolph,  who  had  gone  over  with  Dunmore,  dated  August  25,  1775,  declares: 
''  I  am  sincerely  one  of  those  (who  wish  for  a  connexion  with  England,)  and 
would  rather  be  in  dependence  on  Great  Britain,  properly  limited,  than  on  any 
nation  upon  earth,  or  than  on  no  nation."  Works,  Vol.  I.,  151.  See  also  the 
letter  of  George  Mason  to  Col.  Mercer;  Virginia  Historical  Register,  Vol.  II., 
30 ;  and  Pendleton's  sketch  of  his  own  life,  in  the  archives  of  the  Historical 
Society. 


8  THE  QUESTION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

Although  no  ulterior  object  beyond  the  peace  of  the  Colony  was 
sought  prior  to  the  time  of  the  assembling  of  the  Convention  in 
May,  1776,  the  people,  in  self-defence,  had  taken  the  government 
into  their  own  hands;  for  a  year  had  past  since  Dunmore,  the  royal 
governor,  had  withdrawn  from  this  city;  and  the  subject  of  inde 
pendence  had  been  discussed  in  private  circles  and  in  letters.  The 
conviction  was  felt  by  our  leading  statesmen,  that  Great  Britain 
intended  to  subdue  the  colonists  at  every  hazard  by  force  of  arms. 
and,  as  it  was  plain  that  no  foreign  aid  could  be  expected  so  long  as 
the  colonies  were  connected  with  the  mother  country,  it  was 
thought  expedient  to  dissolve  that  connexion.  Hence  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  then  in  Philadelphia,  wrote  to  Patrick  Henry  when  he 
was  about  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Convention,  exhorting  him  to  pro 
pose  a  separation.*  It  should  be  observed  that  the  battle  of  the 
Great  Bridge  had  been  fought  more  than  four  months  before,  and 
the  military  resources  of  the  Colony  had  been  drawn  into  requisi 
tion.  And  on  the  first  day  of  the  January  previous,  Dunmore  had 
applied  the  torch  to  the  borough  of  Norfolk,  the  great  seaport  of 
the  South,  and  reduced  it  to  ashes.  Still,  when  the  election  of  the 
members  of  the  Convention  was  held,  there  had  been  no  formal 
declaration  by  the  people,  as  has  been  shown  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  a 
desire  to  separate  from  England,  and  to  establish  an  independent 
system  of  their  own.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten,  that  the  various 
non-importation  enactments,  which  could  only  be  defended  as  mea 
sures  of  peace,  and  which  were  wholly  unwise,  and  even  destruc 
tive,  if  reference  were  had  to  a  war  with  England,  remained  in 
full  force.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  the  Convention 
assembled  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  in  this  city,  on 
the  sixth  day  of  May,  1776.t 

*  I  first  saw  this  patriotic  letter  in  December  last,  among  the  Henry  papers 
at  Red  Hill,  the  seat  of  John  Henry,  Esq..  the  youngest  son  of  Patrick  Henry, 
where  the  great  orator  lived  and  died,  and  where  his  remains  now  repose.  After 
a  slight  allusion  to  a  letter  which  he  had  previously  written,  Lee  begins  : 
"  Ages  yet  unborn,  and  millions  existing  at  present,  may  rue  or  bless  that 
assembly  on  which  their  happiness  or  misery  will  so  eminently  depend."  The 
letter  is  dated  April  20,  1776,  and  was  unknown  to  the  grandson  of  Lee,  who 
wrote  his  life.  I  confess  my  obligations  to  Mr.  Henry  lor  the  liberality  with 
which  he  showed  me  all  the  papers  of  his  father  in  his  possession,  and  for  his 
generous  hospitality  which  I  have  so  frequently  enjoyed. 

f  As  it  is  common  to  confound  the  House  of  Burgesses  with  the  Conventions, 
the  former  of  which  bodies  was  elected  by  writs  issued  by  the  royal  governor, 
and  the  latter  by  the  act  of  the  people  themselves,  it  is  proper  to  state  than  on 
the  day  of  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  "  forty-five  members  of  the  House 


MEETING   OF   THE   CONVENTION.  9 

The  crowd  which  filled  the  Capitol  evinced  the  intensity  of  the 
public  excitement.  The  most  influential  men  from  the  neighboring 
counties,  not  then  in  office,  had  sought  the  city,  and  repaired  early 
to  the  place  of  meeting.  Mothers  and  daughters  were  to  be  seen 
in  the  hall  and  in  the  gallery,  watching  with  deep  interest  a  scene 
which  was  to  affect  their  own  peace  and  happiness,  and  the  peace 
and  happiness  of  those  who  were"  dear  to  them.  They  were 
anxious  to  behold  the  beginnings  of  that  plan  of  government  which 
was  to  be  sustained  by  the  wisdom  and  valor  of  their  husbands, 
brothers,  and  sons,  and  in  the  maintenance  of  which  they  were  ere 
long  to  be  called  upon  to  bestow,  as  a  tribute  to  the  treasury  of 
their  bleeding  country,  the  jewels  which  in  a  happier  hour  had 
sparkled  in  the  bridal  wreath,  or  had  reflected  the  purity  of  the 
bosoms  which  bounded  beneath  them. 

We  may  readily  imagine  the  feelings  with  which  the  members 
themselves  took  their  seats  in  that  ancient  hall.  Many  of  them 
had  sat  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  a  long  series  of  years,  and 
had  often  heard  with  pride  the  words  of  the  British  king  spoken  by 
his  representative.  Thirty  years  before,  that  hall  had  resounded 
with  the  congratulations  of  the  Burgesses,  when  the  victory  of 
Culloden  had  sealed  the  fate  of  the  Stuarts,  and  fixed  firmly  on  the 
British  throne  that  Hanoverian  dynasty  which  they  were  soon  to 
shake  off.*  And  seventeen  years  before,  some  of  the  members 
then  present  had  raised  the  voice  of  thanksgiving  when  Wolfe  on 
the  Heights  of  Abraham  had  crushed  the  power  of  France,  whose 
aid  they  were  shortly  to  invoke.  How  different  was  the  prospect 
before  them !  The  sceptre  of  British  rule  was  now  to  be  broken, 
and  forever.  Yet  there  were  emotions  of  a  tender  kind  which 
agitated  their  bosoms.  When  last  they  assembled  in  full  session  in 
that  hall,  the  manly  form  of  PEYTON  RANDOLPH  had  filled  the  chair. 
His  elegant  person,  his  imposing  address,  the  high  place  which 
he  held  in  his  profession  and  in  the  public  esteem,  the  ability  and 
dignity  with  which  he  had  filled,  for  the  past  ten  years,  the  chair  of 

of  Burgesses  met  at  the  Capitol  in  this  city ;  but  thinking  that  the  people 
could  not  be  legally  represented  under  the  ancient  constitution,  which  had  been 
subverted  by  the  king,  lords,  and  commons,  they  unanimously  dissolved  them 
selves  accordingly."  See  the  Virginia  Gazette  of  that  date  in  the  library  of 
Virginia. 


*The 
Culloden 


House  of  Burgesses  called  the  first  county  created  after  the  battle  of 
,  in  honor  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland. 


10  PEYTON   RANDOLPH. 

the  House  of  Burgesses,  were  freshly  remembered ;  while  the  tem 
pered  zeal  with  which  he  engaged  in  the  contest  in  which  the 
country  was  now  embarked,  and  which  concentred  on  himself  the 
confidence  of  all  parties,  his  honored  and  patriotic  career  in  the 
General  Congress  in  which  he  was  unanimously  called  to  preside, 
the  wisdom  and  firmness  which  he  displayed  in  the  Conventions  of 
March  and  July,  1775,  in  both  of  which  he  presided,  the  resolution 
with  which  he  persisted  in  the  public  service  in  spite  of  feeble 
health,  and  which  elicited  from  the  Convention  of  July  a  mark  of 
acknowledgment  as  rare  as  it  was  delicate  and  becoming,*  all 
heightened  and  softened  by  the  recollection  of  his  sudden  death  a 
short  time  before  in  a  distant  city,  while  engaged  in  the  service  of 
his  country;  falling,  too,  at  a  crisis  when  his  peculiar  caste  of 
character  and  admirable  talents  were  so  much  needed  by  his  com 
patriots,  appealed  with  overpowering  force  to  every  heart.  Although 
averse  from  precipitate  action  even  in  a  good  cause,  and  not  indis 
posed  to  discountenance  the  strong  measures  which  were  urged  by 
younger  statesmen,  he  yet  enjoyed  the  unlimited  confidence  of  the 
two  great  parties,  which  had  for  some  years  past  been  gradually 
assuming  a  distinct  form,  and  had  always  been  elected  to  the  promi 
nent  offices  which  he  held  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote.  His 
career  had  been  a  remarkable  one.  As  early  as  1748,  ere  he 
had  attained  his  twenty-fifth  year,  he  was  appointed  Attorney 
General,  and  performed  faithfully  the  duties  of  the  office  until 
1766,  when  he  succeeded  on  the  death  of  Speaker  Robinson  to  the 
chair  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  of  which  he  had  long  been  a 
member,  and  was  successively  elected  to  that  high  station  until  the 
body  was  superseded  by  the  Conventions  of  the  people.  Of  the 
first  Virginia  Convention  which  was  held  in  August,  1774,  in  this 
city,  he  was  unanimously  elected  President.!  He  was  at  the  head 
of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence.  His  name  stood  first  on  the 
roll  of  delegates  appointed  by  that  body  to  the  General  Congress, 

*  Journal  Convention,  July,  1775,  page  18.  The  Convention  invites  him  by 
a  resolution  to  retire  from  the  chair,  that  he  might  recruit  himself  for  the  labors 
of  the  approaching  Congress,  of  which  he  was  President. 

t  I  regret  that  I  cannot  put  my  finger  upon  the  list  of  the  members  of  the 
Convention  of  August,  1774,  A  list  of  the  twenty-five  members  of  the  Honse 
of  Burgesses  who  met  in  this  city  and  convoked  the  Convention,  may  be  found 
in  Puryiance's,  "Baltimore  during  the  Revolution,"  page  135,  and  a  sketch  of 
the  doings  of  the  Convention  itself  may  also  be  seen  in  the  same  work,  page 


JOHN  RANDOLPH.  11 

above  that  of  a  Washington,  a  Harrison,  a  Bland,  a  Pendleton,  and 
a  Henry.  And  when  the  Congress  assembled,  he  was  unanimously 
elected  its  President.  Although  he  may  be  said  to  have  died  early, 
as  he  was  in  his  fifty-second  year  only,  when  in  October,  1775,  he 
was  stricken  with  apoplexy,  he  had  been  nearly  thirty  years  in  the 
public  service.  In  person  he  was  tall  and  stately,  of  a  grave  de 
meanor,  and  was  more  distinguished,  as  a  lawyer,  by  the  soundness 
of  his  learning  and  his  accuracy  of  research,  than  by  the  elegance 
of  his  language  or  by  the  mere  graces  of  delivery.  Sprung  from  a 
family,  whose  wealth,  accumulated  by  an  industrious  but  unculti 
vated  ancestor  who  had  emigrated  to  the  Colony  about  the  close  of 
the  previous  century,  had  been  wisely  expended  in  the  education 
of  its  members,  who  successively  for  along  series  of  years  attained 
to  the  highest  honors  of  the  Colony,  he  superadded  to  his  really 
great  qualities  the  prestige  of  a  name ;  so,  that  he  was  one  of  those 
fortunate  men,  who  from  considerations  accidental  as  wrell  as  in 
trinsic,  become  honors,  and  whom  honors  become.  Even  the 
unfortunate  adhesion  of  his  brother  to  the  royal  cause — an  attach 
ment  which  led  him  to  forsake  his  native  country,  and  to  spend  the 
short  and  sad  remnant  of  his  life  among  her  enemies — and  which 
would  have  cast  suspicion  over  ordinary  men,  tended  by  the  force 
of  contrast  rather  to  elevate  than  depress  him  in  the  estimation  of 
the  people.  Men  of  William  and  Mary!  he  was  peculiarly  your 
own.  It  was  in  this  city  that  he  was  born.  It  was  at  the  breast  of 
your  venerable  parent  he  drew  his  early  nurture,  and  it  was  from 
her  lips  he  learned  those  lessons  of  patriotism  and  piety,  which 
have  encircled  his  name  with  unfading  honor.  It  was,  in  later  life, 
as  the  immediate  representative  of  your  interests  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  that  he  founded  some  of  his  highest  claims  to  the  grati 
tude  of  his  country.  And  it  is  within  the  precincts  of  this  sanc 
tuary,  beneath  the  platform  on  which  I  stand,  and  by  the  side  of 
his  father,  whose  marble  tablet,  placed  more  than  a  century  ago  on 
that  wall,  looks  down  on  the  graves  of  his  race,  that  his  honored 
ashes  now  repose.*  As  I  behold  that  spot,  a  mournful  vision  rises 

*  The  Virginia  Gazette  of  the  29th  of  November,  1776,  says  :  "  On  Tuesday 
last  the  remains  of  our  amiable  and  beloved  fellow-citizen,  the  Hon.  Peyton 
Randolph,  Esq.,  were  conveyed  in  a  hearse  to  the  College  Chapel,  attended  by 
the  worshipful  brotherhood  of  Free  Masons,  both  houses  of  Assembly,  a  num 
ber  of  other  gentlemen,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.  The  body  was  received 
from  the  hearse  by  six  gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  who  conveyed  it 
to  the  family  vault  in  the  Chapel ;  after  which  an  excellent  oration  was  pro- 


12  JOHN   TAZWELL   ELECTED   CLERK. 

before  me.  A  few  rapid  years  have  passed  since  the  burial  of 
Peyton  Randolph,  and  these  boards  were  again  displaced.  In  a 
fresh  grave  were  slowly  lowered  in  silence  and  in  sadness  the 
mortal  remains  of  a  man  who  was  the  boast  of  this  college  and  the 
pride  of  Virginia,  who  had  worthily  worn  the  highest  legal  honors 
of  the  Colony,  who  had  forsaken  bis  country  in  the  hour  of  her 
trial,  and  who  had  paid  in  a  foreign  land  the  penalty  of  a  broken 
heart.  JOHN  RANDOLPH,  the  son  of  that  Sir  JOHN,  whose  marble 
image  has  so  long  adorned  your  hall,  separated  in  the  convulsions 
of  a  great  crisis  from  his  patriot  brother,  then  rested  once  more  by 
his  side. 

When  the  time  arrived  for  calling  the  Convention  to  order,  a 
member  rose  in  his  place  and  proposed  JOHN  TAZHEWELL  as  its 
clerk.  This  eminent  and  excellent  man  had  been  conspicuous  in 
the  preparatory  movements  which  led  to  the  call  of  the  several 
Conventions,  and  had  been  a  member  of  the  memorable  association 
of  1770.  He  studied  at  William  and  Mary,  was  bred  to  the  law 
which  be  prosecuted  with  success,  and  subsequently  under  the  con 
stitution  he  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  General  Court.  On  the 
assembling  of  the  second  Convention  in  Richmond,  in  March,  1775, 
he  had  been  unanimously  elected  clerk,  and  filled  with  fidelity  a 
station  which  was  second  only  in  dignity  and  influence  to  that  of 
the  speaker,  and  which  a  Wythe  before  and  an  Edmund  Randolph 
afterwards  deemed  not  unworthy  of  their  ambition.  He  was  also 
elected  clerk  of  the  Conventions  of  July  and  December  of  the 
same  year.*  When  the  clerk  had  taken  his  seat,  the  election  of  a 
presiding  officer  came  up  in  course.  Heretofore  in  the  appoint 
ment  to  public  office  there  had  been,  since  the  beginning  of  the 
troubles,  entire  unanimity  in  the  Colony.  Peyton  Randolph  had 
always  been  elected  to  the  chair  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  and  of 
the  Convention  of  which  he  was  a  member,  by  an  unanimous 

nounced  from  the  pulpit  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Davis,  in  honor  of  the  deceased, 
and  recommending  it  to  the  respectable  audience  to  imitate  his  virtues.  The 
oration  being  ended,  the  body  was  deposited  in  the  vault,  when  every  spectator 
paid  the  last  tribute  of  tears  to  the  memory  of  their  departed  and  much  honored 
friend.  The  remains  were  brought  from  Philadelphia  by  his  nephew,  Edmund 
Randolph,  in  pursuance  of  the  orders  of  the  widow." 

*  Judge  John  Tazewell  died  in  Williamsburg,  I  am  informed,  in  1781,  and 
was  buried  in  the  church  yard  of  that  city.  No  stone  marks  his  grave— a  re 
mark  which  applies  to  most  of  the  graves  of  our  early  statesmen. 


ELECTION   OF  SPEAKER.  13 

vote;*  and  Robert  Carter  Nicholas,  who  succeeded  himp'O  temporc 
in  the  Convention  of  July,  1775,  was  also  elected  unanimously. 
The  election  of  Edmund  Pendleton  to  the  chair  in  the  Convention 
of  the  previous  December,  was  also  unanimous. 

But  a  new  feeling  had  been  recently  roused  in  the  Colony.  An 
incident,  which  created  much  unpleasant  excitement,  and  which 
threatened  at  one  period  serious  consequences  to  the  army,  had 
recently  occurred.  The  great  orator  of  the  Revolution,  who  had 
been  appointed  by  the  Convention  of  July,  1775,  to  the  command 
of  the  military  forces  of  the  Colony,  and  who  was  anxious  to  lead 
his  countrymen  to  the  field,  had  been  virtually  superseded  by  the 
Committee  of  Safety.  Of  this  committee,  Pendleton  was  the  head, 
and  was  held  responsible  for  its  action.  It  was  believed  that  if  the 
party  of  which  Henry,  who  was  a  member  of  the  House,  was  the 
representative,  should  unite  upon  a  candidate  of  their  own  for  the 
office  of  President,  Pendleton,  who  was  a  candidate  for  re-nomina 
tion,  would  lose  the  election.  Under  these  circumstances,  RICHARD 
BLAND  rose  to  address  the  House.  His  grey  hairs,  which  were  to 
him  truly  a  crown  of  honor,  his  tall  and  manly  form  slightly  bowed 
beneath  the  weight  of  years,  his  striking  and  even  handsome  face, 
which  is  still  to  be  seen  in  his  portrait  at  Jordan's,  mutilated  though 
it  be  by  the  bayonet  of  a  British  vandal,  his  bright  blue  eyes,  now 
weak  with  age,  and  protected  by  a  green  shade,  his  distinguished 
position  as  a  leader  and  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for 
nearly  the  third  of  a  century,  and  his  brilliant  reputation  as  the 
ablest  writer  in  the  Colony,  might  well  make  an  impression  even 
on  that  august  assembly.  He  proposed  the  name  of  Pendleton, 
and  resumed  his  seat.  ARCHIBALD  GARY,  of  whom  we  shall  pre 
sently  speak,  seconded  the  motion.  Up  to  this  moment,  although 
much  dissatisfaction  with  the  conduct  of  the  Committee  of  Safety 
had  been  expressed  privately  and  in  print,  it  was  not  certainly 
known  that  there  would  be  a  formal  contest  for  the  chair.  But  all 
doubt  was  instantly  dispelled  when  JOHNSON  of  Louisa  appeared  on 
the  floor.  The  county  from  which  he  came,  the  very  name  which 
he  bore,  settled  the  question.  It  was  the  county  of  Louisa  which 

*  When  Peyton  Randolph  was  first  nominated  in  1766,  to  fill  the  vacancy  in 
the  Speaker's  chair  made  by  the  death  of  Col.  Robinson,  R.  H.  Lee  nominated 
Col.  Richard  Bland  in  opposition  ;  but  his  subsequent  elections  were  unanimous. 
See  Journal  House  of  Burgesses,  of  November  6th,  1766. 


14  EDMUND  PENDLETON. 

Henry  represented  when  he  offered  his  resolutions  against  the 
stamp  act.  It  was  a  Johnson  who  had  resigned  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  that  Henry  might  succeed  him.*  Of  all  the 
opponents  of  the  party  of  Pendleton  for  the  past  ten  years,  the 
Johnsons  were  the  most  ardent  and  uncompromising.  They  were 
men  of  a  fierce  temperament,  and  were  utterly  fearless  in  the  ex 
pression  of  their  opinions.!  As  a  personal  friend  of  Henry, 
Thomas  Johnson  felt  acutely  the  indignity  with  which  it  was  urged 
he  had  heen  treated  by  the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  he  was  un 
willing  that  Pendleton,  whom  he  held  bound  for  the  action  of  the 
committee,  and  who  wTas  then  at  its  head,  should  so  soon  receive  so 
signal  a  mark  of  the  public  favor.  He  proposed  THOMAS  LUDWELL 
LEE  for  the  chair,  and  was  sustained  by  BARTHOLOMEW  DANDRIDGE. 
But  here,  as  throughout  a  life  protracted  far  beyond  the  limit  of 
the  Psalmist,  and  spent  to  its  latest  hour  in  the  public  service,  the 
fortunate  star  of  Pendleton  prevailed.:}:  He  was  re-elected,  and 
escorted  by  Richard  Bland  and  Archibald  Gary,  was  led  to  the 
chair.  Nor  could  the  honor  of  the  presiding  office  have  been  con 
ferred  more  wisely.  How  far  his  reputation  was  involved  in  the 
difficulty  with  Henry,  will  be  presently  discussed.  As  a  parlia 
mentarian,  he  had  no  equal  in  the  House;  a  superior  nowhere.  He 
had  been  a  leading  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  five  and 
twenty  years,  was  familiar  with  all  its  forms,  and  was  admirably 
skilled  in  the  dispatch  of  its  business.  If  his  knowledge  of  our 
early  charters  did  not  equal  that  of  Bland,  it  was  more  than  respec 
table,  and  with  the  British  statutes  bearing  upon  the  Colony,  and 
with  the  acts  of  Assembly,  he  was  fully  conversant.  And  in  an 
intellectual  point  of  view,  as  one  of  the  most  accomplished  speak 
ers  of  the  House,  he  imparted  honor  to  the  chair.  Nor  were  his  < 

*  The  Journals  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  the  session  of  1765,  spell  the 
name  Johnston,  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  name  is  Johnson.  Mr. 
Wirt  says  that  Johnston  resigned  to  give  place  to  Henry,  while  the  Journal 
states  that  he  vacated  his  seat  in  consequence  of  accepting  the  office  of  coro 
ner.  Journal  House  of  Burgesses,  1765,  page  99. 

•j-  An  incident  will  illustrate  the  character  of  one  of  the  Johnsons.  He  had 
uttered  an  oath  in  debate  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  which  was  promptly  fol 
lowed  by  an  order  that  the  offender  should  receive  the  reprimand  of  the  Speaker, 
which  that  officer  pronounced  on  the  spot  in  due  form.  As  soon  as  he  ended, 
Johnson,  who  had  risen  to  receive  the  reprimand,  set  up  a  loud  whistle,  which 
brought  down  the  house  in  a  roar  of  laughter,  and  converted  the  whole  affair 
into  a  farce. 

J  The  Journal  gives  the  result,  but  does  not  state  the  vote. 


ELECTION  OF  CHAPLAIN.  15 

physical  qualities  at  all  inferior  to  his  intellectual.  He  was  fully 
six  feet  in  height,  and  was  in  the  vigor  of  life,  having  reached  his 
fifty-fifth  year;  his  face  still  so  comely  as  to  have  won  for  its  pos 
sessor  the  reputation  of  being  the  handsomest  man  in  the  Colony; 
his  noble  form  yet  unbent  by  that  fearful  accident  which,  in  less 
than  twelve  months,  was  to  consign  him  to  the  crutch  for  life ;  lithe 
and  graceful  in  all  his  movements;  his  manners  polished  by  an 
intercourse  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  with  the  most  refined  circles 
of  the  metropolis  and  of  the  Colony;  his  voice  clear  and  ringing, 
so  that  its  lowest  note  was  heard  distinctly  throughout  the  hall;  and 
a  self-possession  so  supreme  as  to  sustain  him  in  the  fiercest  col 
lisions  of  debate  as  if  in  a  state  of  repose.  Of  such  a  man  it  may 
be  safely  said,  that  in  whatever  view  we  choose  to  regard  him,  and 
whether  we  look  abroad  or  at  home,  a  more  accomplished  personage 
has  rarely  presided  in  a  public  assembly. 

Before  taking  his  seat,  Pendleton  made  his  acknowledgments  to 
the  house  in  a  few  plain  sentences,  which  have  come  down  to  us, 
and  which,  simple  as  they  seem,  eminently  display  his  skill  as  a 
politician.  The  adroitness  with  which  he  regarded  his  election  as  a 
fresh  mark  of  the  public  confidence,  the  scrupulous  care  with  which 
he  kept  out  of  sight  the  subject  of  independence,  which  he  well  knew 
the  party  of  Henry  intended  to  bring  forward,  and  the  zeal  with 
wrhich  he  pressed  the  topics  which  in  a  state  of  flagrant  war  de 
manded  the  immediate  attention  of  the  house,  were  as  keenly  felt 
by  his  opponents  as  they  were  applauded  by  his  friends.* 

It  is  gratifying  to  observe,  that  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Con 
vention  was  the  appointment  of  a  chaplain,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
open  its  sessions  with  prayer.  And  on  the  second  day  of  the 
meeting,  the  chaplain,  the  Rev.  THOMAS  PRICE,  was  requested  to 
preach  a  suitable  discourse  in  the  Episcopal  church  in  this  city,  on 
the  Friday  week  following,  in  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the 
Congress,  which  had  set  apart  that  day  as  a  time  of  fasting  and 
prayer  throughout  the  Colonies.  Nor  was  the  observance  of  so 
grave  a  religious  ceremony  a  mere  matter  of  form.  Some  of  the 
few  letters  of  the  patriots  of  that  day,  which  have  come  down  to  us, 
and  which,  if  not  worth  all  the  classics,  are  invaluable  for  the  pur 
poses  of  history,  show  the  spirit  in  which  such  days  were  kept.* 

*  Journal  Virginia  Convention,  May,  1776,  page  5. 


16  DUTIES   OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

The  members  not  only  attended  in  person,  clad  in  mourning,  and 
marching  in  procession  to  the  church,  preceded  by  the  sergeant  of 
arms  bearing  the  ancient  mace  in  his  hand,  but  required  their  fami 
lies  at  home  to  follow  their  example.* 

It  would  be  unjust  to  overlook  the  diligence  with  which  these 
eminent  men  performed  their  public  duties.  The  house  was  opened 
first  at  nine  in  the  morning,  and  afterwards  at  seven,  when  the 
chaplain  read  prayers.  The  letter  of  a  member  of  the  Convention, 
who  was  also  a  member  of  a  previous  one,  affords  us  a  glimpse  of 
the  daily  routine.  "The  committees  met  at  seven,  and  remained 
in  session  until  the  hour  of  nine,  when  the  Convention  assembled, 
which  rarely  adjourned  until  five  in  the  afternoon.  After  dinner 
and  a  little  refreshment,  the  committees  sit  again  until  nine  or  ten 
at  night."  t  The  writer  speaks  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  the 
members:  difficulties,  indeed,  but  from  which,  great  as  they  were, 
those  noble  patriots  did  not  shrink,  but  with  which  they  manfully 
grappled,  and  which,  under  the  guidance  of  a  kind  Providence,  they 
overcame,  crowning  their  work  with  that  independence  which  they 
were  about  to  declare,  and  with  that  happy  plan  of  government 
which  they  were  now  about  to  establish. 

Let  it  be  kept  in  mind,  that  the  Convention  not  only  performed 
the  ordinary  duties  of  the  legislative  department,  but,  while  in 
session,  those  of  the  executive  also.  Thus  it  received  and  answered 
the  letters  of  the  highest  military  officers  in  the  public  service,  and 
the  letters  of  the  members  of  Congress.  Hence,  from  the  extreme 
pressure  of  business  mostly  of  an  executive  kind ;  for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  Dunmore  was  still  on  our  waters,  and  that  it  was 
not  till  several  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention,  that 
he  was  driven  from  his  retreat  at  Gwin's  Island  by  the  artillery  of 
the  gallant  Lewis  ;  it  was  not  until  the  fifteenth  day  of  May,  after 
long  and  solemn  deliberation  in  committee  of  the  whole,  that  two 
resolutions,  which  were  in  every  view  the  most  important  ever 
presented  for  the  consideration  of  a  public  body,  were  reported  to 
the  house,  and  unanimously  adopted.  As  these  resolves  have  been 

*  A  letter  of  George  Mason,  written  on  the  occasion  of  a  fast,  and  recently 
brought  to  light,  enjoins  it  upon  his  household  that  they  should  attend  the  ser 
vices  in  the  church  near  Gunston  Hall,  and  that  his  three  sons  and  two  daugh 
ters  should  appear  in  mourning.  Mason  to  Cockburn.  Virginia  Historical  Reg 
ister,  Vol.  III.,  28. 

t  Virginia  Historical  Register,  Vol.  II.,  23. 


RESOLUTIONS   PROPOSING   INDEPENDENCE  1*7 

rarely  drawn  from  the  journals  in  full,  and  recorded  in  the  histories 
of  the  period,  and  as  they  constitute  the  first  declaration  of  inde 
pendence,  I  quote  them  at  large: 

"  Forasmuch  as  all  the  endeavors  of  the  United  Colonies  by  the 
most  decent  representations  and  petitions  to  the  king  and  parliament 
of  Great  Britain,  to  restore  peace  and  security  to  America  under 
the  British  government,  and  a  re-unfen  with  that  people  upon  jus* 
and  liberal  terms,  instead  of  a  redress  of  grievances,  have  pro 
duced,  from  an  imperious  and  vindictive  administration,  increased 
insult,  oppression,  and  a  vigorous  attempt  to  effect  our  total  de 
struction.  By  a  late  act,  all  these  Colonies  are  declared  to  be  in 
rebellion,  and  out  of  the  projection  of  the  British  crown,  our  pro 
perties  subjected  to  confiscation,  our  people,  when  captivated,  com 
pelled  to  join  in  the  ,jmirder  and  plunder  of  their  relations  and 
countrymen,  and  all  former  rapine  and  oppression  of  Americans 
declared  legal  and  just.  Fleets  and  armies  are  raised,  and  the  aid 
of  foreign  troops  e.ngaged  to  assist  these  destructive  purposes*  The 
king's  representative  in  this  Colony  hath  not  only  withheld  all  the 
powers  of  government  from  operating  for  our  safety,  but,  having 
retired  on  board  an  armed  ship,  is  carrying  on  a  piratical  and 
savage  war  against  us,  tempting  our  slaves,  by  every  artifice,  to 
resort  to  him,  and  training  and  employing  them  against  their  mas 
ters.  In  this  state  of  extreme  danger,  we  have  no  alternative  left 
but  an  abject  submission  to  the  will  of  those  overbearing  tyrants, 
or  a  total  separation  from  the  crown  and  government  of  Great 
Britain,  uniting  and  exerting  the  strength  of  all  America  for  defence, 
and  forming  alliances  with  foreign  powers  for  commerce  and  aid  in 
war.  Wherefore,  appealing  to  the  SEARCHER  OF  HEARTS  for 
the  sincerity  of  former  declarations  expressing  our  desire  to  pre 
serve  the  connexion  with  that  nation,  and  that  we  are  driven  from 
that  inclination  by  their  wicked  councils,  and  the  eternal  laws  of 
self-preservation : 

"  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  delegates  appointed  to  represent 
this  Colony  in  the  General  Congress,  be  instructed  to  propose  to 
that  respectable  body,  to  declare  the  United  Colonies  free  and  inde 
pendent  States,  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to,  or  dependence  upon, 
the  crown  or  parliament  of  Great  Britain ;  and  that  they  give  the 
assent  of  this  Colony  to  such  declaration,  and  to  whatever  measures 
may  be  thought  proper  and  necessary  by  the  Congress  for  forming 
2 


18  AND  A  PLAN   OF  GOVERNMENT. 

foreign  alliances,  and  a  confederation  of  the  colonies,  at  such  time 
and  in  the  manner  as  to  them  shall  seem  best;  Provided,  the  power 
of  forming  government  for,  and  the  regulations  of  the  internal  con 
cerns  of  'each  Colony,  be  left  to  the  respective  colonial  legislatures. 

"Resolved,  unanimously,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  prepare 
a  DECLARATION  or  RIGHTS,  and  such  a  plan  of  government  as  will 
be  most  likely  to  maintain  peace  and  order  in  this  Colony,  and 
secure  substantial  and  equal  liberty  to  the  people."* 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  first  resolution,  which  instructs 
the  delegates  of  Virginia  in  Congress  to  propose  independence,  is 
known  to  all.  The  proposition  was  made  in  Congress  in  nearly  the 
words  of  the  resolution,  by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  who  was  gallantly 
upheld  by  John  Adams,  whose  eloquence  and  unfaltering  courage, 
as  they  were  the  admiration  of  his  own  age,  so  they  will  be  cher 
ished  in  all  time  to  come.  The  Declaration  of  the  Fourth  of  July 
followed  in  due  time ;  and  it  may  be  recorded  as  a  fortunate  inci 
dent  in  our  history,  that,  in  a  contest  sustained  with  equal  zeal  by 
the  chivalric  men  of  all  the  colonies,  she  was  the  first  to  instruct 
her  delegates  to  declare  independence,  that  the  declaratory  resolu 
tion  adopted  by  Congress  was  drawn  and  offered  by  one  of  her  rep 
resentatives,  and  that  the  public  appeal  to  the  nations  of  the  earth 
in  the  form  of  a  declaration  of  independence,  was  drafted  by 
another. 

It  is  becoming  to  observe  that,  when  the  resolution  instructing 
the  delegates  in  Congress  to  propose  independence  was  adopted  by 
the  Convention,  the  result  was  welcomed  by  the  people  of  Wil- 
liamsburg  with  every  demonstration  of  joy.  Thus,  amid  the  ring 
ing  of  bells  and  the  thunder  of  artillery,  the  jocund  shouts  of  the 
young  and  the  cordial  congratulations  of  the  old,  the  kingdom 
passed  away,  and  independence  was  assumed.!  While  this  ani 
mated  scene  was  enacting  without,  the  eye  of  the  reflecting  ob 
server  beheld  in  the  Convention  an  eloquent  remembrancer  of  the 

*  Journal  of  the  Convention  1776,  page  15.  In  a  letter  to  R.  H.  Lee,  dated 
May  18,  1776,  in  the  archives  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society,  Geo.  Mason 
criticises  with  some  sharpness  the  wording  of  the  preamble. 

f  The  Virginia  Gazette  of  the  17th  of  May,  1776,  gives  an  animatad  account 
of  the  rejoicings.  The  resolution  was  read  to  the  army  in  the  presence  of 
Gen.  Andrew  Lewis,  who,  a  few  days  later,  was  to  drive  Dunmore  ignomini- 
ously  from  our  waters,  the  Committee  of  Safety,  the  members  of  the  Conven 
tion,  and  the  people  at  large  ;  and  a  feast  was  spread  for  the  soldiers  in  Waller's 
grove.  At  night  the  city  was  brilliantly  illuminated. 


THE  DECLARATION   OF   RIGHTS   REPORTED.  19 

past.  The  ancient  silver  mace,  once  the  superb  and  princely 
symbol  of  imperial  power,  now  the  trophy  of  a  people  resolved  to 
be  free,  rested  on  the  table  of  the  clerk. 

It  has  been  seen  that  at  the  same  time  the  Convention  instructed 
the  delegates  in  Congress  to  propose  independence,  it  adopted  a 
resolution  appointing  a  committee  to  frame  a  declaration  of  rights, 
and  a  plan  of  government  for  the  State.  Accordingly  a  committee 
consisting  of  over  thirty  members  most  distinguished  for  their  wis 
dom  and  ability,  Archibald  Gary  at  their  head,  was  appointed  by 
the  chair;*  and  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  May,  Mr.  Gary  reported 
to  the  house  a  Declaration  of  Rights,  "which  he  read  in  his  place, 
and  afterwards  delivered  in  at  the  clerk's  table,  when  the  same  was 
again  read,  and  ordered  to  be  committed  to  a  committee  of  the 
whole  Convention."  From  the  twenty-seventh  of  May  to  the  eleventh 
of  June,  the  Declaration  of  Rights  was  discussed  at  intervals  in 
committee  of  the  whole ;  and  on  the  latter  day  it  was  ordered  that 
the  declaration  with  the  amendments  be  fairly  transcribed,  and 
read  a  third  time ;  and  the  day  after,  the  fifteenth  of  June,  it  was 
passed  unanimously.  And  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  Mr.  Gary 
reported  a  "plan  of  government,"  which  was  read  the  first  time, 
and  ordered  to  be  read  a  second  time.  It  was  passed  over  on  the 
twenty-fifth,  discussed  on  the  twenty-sixth  and  twenty-seventh, 
and  on  the  twenty-eighth  was  reported  with  amendments  to  the 
house,  and  ordered  to  be  read  a  third  time ;  and  on  the  TWENTY- 
NINTH  or  JUNE,  the  first  written  constitution  ever  framed  by  an 
independent  political  society,  was  adopted  by  an  unanimous  vote. 

And  here,  let  me  add.  it  is  in  the  spirit  of  just  exultation  that 
William  and  Mary  may  contemplate  the  fact,  that  the  statesman 
who  was  probably  the  author  of  the  Virginia  declaration  of  inde 
pendence,  from  whose  lips  the  declaration  of  rights  was  first  heard 
in  a  public  assembly,  and  who  reported  the  first  written  constitu 
tion  of  a  sovereign  state  known  among  men;t  and  that  the  states- 

*  The  committee  consisted  of  the  following  gentlemen  :  Mr.  A.  Gary,  Mr. 
Meriwether  Smith,  Mr.  Mercer,  Mr.  Henry  Lee,  Mr.  Treasurer,  (R.  C.  Nicho 
las,)  Mr.  Henry,  Mr.  Dandridge,  Mr.  Gilmer,  Mr.  Richard  Bland,  Mr.  Digges, 
Mr.  Paul  Carrino-ton,  Mr.  Thomas  Ludwell  Lee,  Mr.  Cabell,  Mr.  Jones,  Mr. 
Blair,  Mr.  Fleming,  Mr.  Henry  Tazewell,  Mr.  R.  Cary,  Mr.  Bullitt,  Mr.  Watts, 
Mr.  Banister,  Mr.  Page,  Mr.  Starke,  Mr.  David  Mason,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Read, 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Lewis.  And  at  a  later  day,  as  they  arrived  in  the  city,  Mi. 
Madison,  Mr.  Rutherford,  Mr.  Benjamin  Watkins,  Mr.  George  Mason,  Mr. 
Harvie,  Mr.  Curie, and  Mr.  Holt. 

1 1  attribute  the  preamble  to  the  resolutions  proposing  independence  and  the 


20     VIRGINIA   THE   FIRST   STATE   TO   DECLARE   INDEPENDENCE. 

man  who  drafted  the  eloquent  preamble  of  that  constitution,  and 
the  immortal  charter  of  our  liberties,  the  American  declaration  of 
independence,  were  among  her  cherished  sons. 

As  the  claim  of  Virginia  to  the  honor  of  having  first  declared 
independence,  has  been  recently  disputed,  it  is  our  duty,  assembled 
as  we  are,  in  the  very  city  where  that  declaration  was  made,  to  see 
how  the  case  stands,  and  to  defend  her  fair  fame  from  any  unjust 
pretension,  come  it  from  any  quarter  it  may.  On  the  fifteenth  of 
May,  1776,  she  formally  instructed  her  delegates  in  Congress  to 
propose  independence,  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  she 
declared  in  the  most  solemn  manner  on  the  preamble  of  her  con 
stitution,  that  the  ties  which  had  previously  bound  her  to  the 
British  crown,  were  thenceforth  dissolved.  But  it  has  been  urged 
that  the  people  of  the  county  of  Mecklenburg  in  our  sister  State  of 
North  Carolina,  made  a  regular  declaration  of  independence  on  the 
twentieth  of  May  of  the  preceding  year,  thus  anticipating  the 
action  of  Virginia  by  a  twelve  month.  All  honor  to  the  patriots  of 
Mecklenburg !  The  names  of  her  Alexanders,  of  Brevard,  of  Polk, 
of  Balch,  of  Kennon,  and  of  others,  deserve  to  be  held  in  grateful 
remembrance.  Nor  were  the  gallant  sons  of  Carolina  content  with 
words.  Before  the  close  of  that  very  year  they  rushed  to  the  de 
fence  of  Virginia,  who  wras  suffering  from  the  piratical  warfare  of 
Dunmore,  and  joining  Woodford  after  the  handsome  affair  of  the 
Great  Bridge,  marched  in  triumph  to  Norfolk,  where  the  combined 
forces  under  the  Carolinian  Howe,  taught  Dunmore  a  lesson  W7hich 
he  did  not  soon  forget.  A  resolution  adopted  by  our  Convention  of 
1775-6,  will  proclaim  to  future  times  the  high  sense  entertained  by 
that  body  of  the  services  of  the  gallant  Carolinians.*  But,  Mr. 
President,  while  I  rejoice  to  acknowledge  the  patriotism  and  valor 
of  North  Carolina,  displayed  then  and  since  on  our  own  soil,  and 
while  I  shall  concede,  for  the  present  at  least,  that  the  good  people 
of  Mecklenburg  did  adopt  on  the  twentieth  of  May,  1775,  certain 
resolutions  which  reflect  the  highest  credit  upon  them ;  still  I  must 
be  permitted  to  doubt  whether  those  resolutions  contained,  as 
alledged,  a  declaration  of  a  formal  and  absolute  independence  of 

formation  of  a  plan  of  government  to  Archibald  Gary,  from  internal  evidence. 
Neither  R.  H.  Lee  nor  Mason  had  then  arrived;  and  as  Cary  was  chairman  of 
the  committee,  it  is  probable  that,  if  he  be  not  the  sole  author,  he  gave  it  its 
present  shape. 

*  Journal  Virginia  Convention  of  1775-6,  pages  74  and  81. 


THE   MECKLENBURG   DECLARATION.  21 

the  British  crown.  That  the  people  overturned  the  royal  govern 
ment  in  their  county,  that  they  denounced  every  man  a  traitor  who 
should  hold  or  accept  a  commission  from  the  king,  that  they  drew 
up  some  regulations  for  their  temporary  government,  and  that  they 
acted  independence,  if  they  did  not  formally  declare  it,  I  am  quite 
willing  for  the  present  to  concede ;  but  I  must  confess  that  all  the 
evidence  yet  accessible  by  me,  does  not  quite  convince  me  that 
there  was  a  regular  declaration.*  It  is  true  that  the  resolutions 
purporting  to  have  been  then  and  there  adopted,  do  make  such  a 
declaration;  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  has  been  some 
mistake  in  the  case,  which  I  shall  proceed  to  surmise.  You  will 
see  at  once,  sir,  that  if  the  original  manuscript  or  a  printed  contem 
poraneous  copy  could  be  produced,  the  question  would  be  settled  at 
once.  But  unfortunately  no  such  copy  can  be  found,  and  we  are 
referred  to  two  copies,  one  of  which  is  supposed  to  be  more  genu 
ine  than  the  other,  is  generally  put  forth  as  the  true  copy,  which 
was  discovered  among  the  papers  of  one  of  Carolina's  most  distin 
guished  sons,  the  late  Gen.  Davie,  and  which  is  now  said  to  be  on 
file  in  the  state  department  at  Raleigh  ;  and  the  other  copy,  which 
is  the  first  printed  one  known  to  exist,  is  contained  in  the  history  of 
North  Carolina  by  Martin,  who  was  once  governor  of  that  State. 
Now,  sir,  apart  from  the  changes  in  the  tenses  of  verbs,  such  as 
"  abets"  in  one  copy  and  "  abetted"  in  the  other,  there  are  in  the 
first  short  resolution  of  each  copy  nine  words  that  are  not  in  both ; 
and  in  the  Davie  copy  of  the  first  resolution,  we  find  the  insertion 
of  the  ominous  words  "inherent  and  inalienable,"  which  have  made 
the  foundation  in  part  of  the  charge  of  plagiarism  against  Mr.  Jef 
ferson,  and  which  do  not  appear  at  all  in  the  Martin  copy  which,  as 
before  observed,  was  the  first  that  appeared  in  print.  The  first 
resolution  of  the  Davie  copy  contains  forty-five  words ;  the  same 
resolution  in  that  of  Martin,  forty  only,  showing  a  difference  of  one- 
eighth  of  all  the  words  in  the  resolution.  In  the  second,  there  are 
in  the  Davie  copy  sixty-two  words ;  in  that  of  Martin  fifty-seven, 
and  there  are  ten  words,  or  more  than  one-sixth  of  the  whole,  that 
do  not  appear  in  both  resolutions.  In  the  third,  there  are  in  the 

*  The  subject  of  the  Mecklenburg  declaration  has  lately  been  discussed  with 
great  ability  by  the  Ilev.  Dr.  Hawks,  in  a  lecture  delivered  before  the  Historical 
Society  of  New  York.  This  lecture  has  been  published  in  book  form,  with  the 
discourses  of  Governor  Swain  and  Mr.  Graham  on  North  Carolina  history,  by 
Mr.  Cooke  of  Raleigh,  1853. 


22  THE   MECKLENBURG   DECLARATION". 

Davie  copy  sixty-seven  words  ;  in  that  of  Martin  fifty-eight  only  ; 
and  there  are  six  words  not  to  be  found  in  both  copies.  In  the 
fourth,  there  are  in  the  Davie  copy  fifty-eight  words  ;  and  in  that  of 
Martin  thirty-six  only ;  but,  though  the  substance  of  the  resolution 
is  the  same,  the  words  are  almost  wholly  different.  In  the  fifth, 
there  are  in  the  Davie  copy  one  hundred  and  nine  words,  and  in 
that  of  Martin  eighty-five  only;  and, 'though  on  the  same  subject, 
they  differ  almost  entirely  in  their  phraseology.  A  sixth  resolution, 
which  requires  the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  to  be  sent  "to  the 
Continental  Congress  assembled  in  Philadelphia,  to  be  laid  before 
that  body,"  and  which  would  point  out  a  source  to  which  we  might 
refer  for  a  contemporaneous  copy,  appears  in  the  Martin  copy,  but 
is  absent  from  the  more  graphic  copy  of  Davie. 

Now  I  am  free  to  confess  that  the  substance  of  the  two  series  of 
resolutions  is  the  same  in  both  copies ;  but  the  remarkable  fact  to 
which  I  would  call  attention  is,  that  it  is  palpable  not  only  that 
neither  series  was  copied  from  the  other,  hut  that  the  copies  from 
which  they  were  taken  must  also  have  differed  as  widely  from  each 
other,  and  thus  we  go  back  to  almost  to  the  date  of  the  resolutions 
themselves ;  for  it  is  admitted  that  the  Martin  copy  was  obtained 
prior  to  1800,  and  it  is  urged  by  the  friends  of  the  resolutions,  that 
the  Davie  copy  was  in  existence  as  early  as  1793.  So  there  is  a 
point  of  time  eighteen  years  only  after  their  date,  when  the  dif 
ferent  copies  clashed  precisely  as  they  do  now.  What,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  is  the  plain  inference  from  such  a  state  of  facts  ?  Why,  sir, 
that  both  cannot  be  true  copies  of  the  original ;  and  that,  when  we 
consider  the  early  clashing  of  the  copies,  that  neither  is  a  true  copy. 
If  I  were  allowed  to  form  an  hypothesis  in  such  a  case,  it  would  be 
that  the  original  was  probably  destroyed  or  lost  at  or  near  its  date ; 
that,  as  time  drew  on,  and  the  clouds  of  war  rolled  over — when  the 
fame  of  the  great  American  declaration  was  diffused  abroad,  and  its 
phrases  had  become  stereotyped  in  the  common  mind,  public  atten 
tion  was  drawn  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Mecklenburg  meeting  of  the 
twentieth  of  May,  and  that  an  effort  was  made  to  supply  the  lost 
document  from  the  memoranda  or  the  recollections  of  those  who  were 
present  at  the  meeting;  and,  as  they  brought  to  the  task  a  perfect 
familiarity  with  the  phrases  of  the  great  declaration,  so  they  un 
consciously  adopted  them  in  their  paper;  and  hence  the  resem 
blance  in  certain  forms  of  expression  to  that  instrument.  Nor  do 


THE   MECKLENBURG   DECLARATION.  23 

I  impute  fraud  or  collusion  among  the  parties.  On  the  contrary, 
they  may  have  been  so  fully  convinced  that  they  had  succeeded  in 
restoring  the  original  document  that,  in  the  lapse  of  time,  the  fact 
of  its  loss  was  forgotten  altogether,  and  one  or  other  of  the  existing 
copies  was  regarded  as  such. 

But  I  may  be  asked  what  can  I  say  of  the  fourteen*  witnesses 
residing  in  different  states,  who  testify  some  forty  or  fifty  years 
•after  the  date  of  the  meeting,  that  there  was  a  formal  declaration  of 
independence.  I  answer  at  once  that  I  believe  them  to  be  true  and 
honest  patriots,  who  have  served  their  country  in  their  day  and 
generation,  and  whose  lightest  lock  I  would  not  lift  irreverently 
from  their  honored  temples  for  all  the  vexed  questions  in  political 
history.  And  when  they  testify  to  a  fact  which  is  a  legitimate 
subject  of  parole  testimony,  I  would  believe  them  as  soon  as  any 
other  fourteen  men  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Thus,  when  some  of 
them  declare  that  there  was  a  public  meeting  held  in  the  county  of 
Mecklenburg,  on  the  twentieth  of  May,  1775,  though  I  might  be 
able  to  show  from  other  sources  that  it  was  the  thirtieth  instead  of 
the  twentieth  on  which  the  meeting  was  held,  I  admit  at  once  that 
they  declare  what  they  believe  to  be  true,  and  that  their  testimony, 
though  not  conclusive  as  to  the  day  of  the  meeting,  would  seem  to 
be  conclusive  that  there  was  a  meeting  about  that  time;  but,  when 
they  testify  on  the  strength  of  mere  memory,  after  the  lapse  of 
almost  half  a  century,  concerning  the  peculiar  phraseology  of  a 
series  of  abstract  resolutions  which  they  had  heard  read  from  the 
steps  of  a  court-house,  and  which  they  never  saw  in  print,  and 
which  indeed  were  not  printed  for  years  after  their  date  ;  and  when 
it  is  considered  that  those  who  obtained  their  affidavits,  honorable 
and  conscientious  men  as  I  concede  them  to  be,  regarded  their  tes 
timony  as  deciding  a  question  in  which  family  and  state  pride  was 
enlisted ;  and  when,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  one  who  doubted  the  au 
thenticity  of  the  resolutions  was  present  to  freshen  the  recollections 
of  these  old  men;  the  case  is  altered,  and  I  apply  strictly  to  their 
testimony  the  same  rule  applicable  to  human  testimony  under  such 
circumstances.  Now,  I  assert  that  such  testimony  cannot  be  con 
clusive.  Those  venerable  men  might  well  remember  that  at  a 
given  period  resolut!ons  were  offered,  which  struck  down  the  royal 

*  Dr.  Hawks'  Discourse. 


24  THE   MECKLENBURG   DECLARATION. 

government,  and  established  an  independent  system  in  its  stead, 
which  organized  the  military  forces  of  the  county  of  Mecklenburg, 
and  which  denounced  vengeance  on  all  who  upheld  the  authority  of 
the  king;  and  that  the  people  were  ready  to  maintain  the  new  sys 
tem,  if  need  be,  with  their  lives.  I  say  that  these  aged  patriots 
might  well  remember  that  the  people  acted  independence,  whether 
they  used  the  form  of  a  declaration  or  not,  and  put  forth  their  reso 
lutions  of  a  corresponding  tenor;  and  hence  they  called  the  change 
a  declaration  of  independence,  which  indeed  it  was,  but  only  as 
the  action  of  all  the  states  at  that  time  may  be  said  to  have  de 
clared  independence.  At  the  date  of  the  Mecklenburg  meeting, 
Virginia  was  practically  as  much  a  self-governing  and  independent 
state  as  she  now  is.  The  Convention  of  August,  1774,  had  met 
and  adjourned.  The  Convention  of  March,  1775,  had  met,  had 
organized  the  military  forces  of  the  Colony,  beside  making  other 
preparations  for  the  approaching  crisis,  and  had  adjourned.  These 
aged  men  might  readily  have  confounded  such  revolutionary  pro 
ceedings  with  a  formal  declaration  of  independence  of  the  British 
crown.  At  all  events,  none  hoMs  the  honor  of  these  worthy  wit 
nesses  in  higher  repute  than  I  do. 

But,  let  me  ask,  why  were  not  these  famous  resolves  printed  .? 
The  proceedings  of  the  same  committee  which  is  said  to  have 
framed  them,  adopted  ten  days  after,  were  duly  emblazoned  through 
the  northern  and  southern  press,  and  a  printed  copy  of  them,  by 
the  way,  was  enclosed  by  the  royal  governor  in  a  letter,  which  Mr. 
Sparks  recently  saw,  to  the  state  department  in  England.  It  is 
urged  that  the  resolutions  of  the  twentieth  were  too  violent  for 
publication ;  but  the  resolves  of  the  thirtieth  were  printed,  which 
embraced  an  entire  plan  of  government,  and  contained  the  dis 
tilled  essence  of  treason,  the  punishment  of  which  was  death;  and, 
as  no  greater  punishment  than  death  can  be  inflicted  upon  the  same 
persons,  it  is  not  easy  to  tell  why  one  set  of  resolutions,  which  may 
be  said  to  be  primary  and  authoritative,  should  not  be  published  as 
well  as  the  other  which  followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  Well,  sir, 
the  resolutions  of  the  twentieth  were  ordered  by  the  meetinsr, 

*/  C5  * 

according  to  one  of  the  copies,  to  be  laid  before  Congress,  and  it  is 
in  testimony  that  the  messenger  who  is  said  to  have  carried  them 
to  Philadelphia,  and  who,  by  the  way,  did  not  set  out,  it  would 
seem,  until  after  the  thirtieth  of  May,  and  took  with  him  the  pro- 


THE  MECKLENBURG   DECLARATION.  25 

ceedings  of  that  day,  deposited  them,  as  he  states,  in  the  hands  of 
the  Carolina  members.  Why  were  they  not  reported  to  Congress, 
and  spread  upon  the  journals?  There  would  be  no  danger  from 
such  a  publication,  as  Congress  always  sat  with  closed  doors ;  and 
surely  a  body  which  was  busily  engaged  in  subverting  the  royal 
authority  by  armies  in  the  open  field,  had  nerves  strong  enough  to 
bear  the  resolves  of  the  people  of  the  county  of  Mecklenburg. 
Why  were  they  not  shown  to  Mr.  Jefferson  or  to  John  Adams,  both 
of  whom  declare  that  they  never  heard  of  them  until  almost  half  a 
century  after  their  date  ?  If  the  miserable  charge  of  plagiarism 
urged  against  Mr.  Jefferson  may  lead  the  fanatic  to  undervalue  his 
testimony,  surely  that  of  John  Adams,  the  Colossus  of  indepen 
dence,  is  unimpeachable. 

I  have  argued  thus  far,  Mr.  President,  against  the  authenticity  of 
the  Mecklenburg  declaration  of  the  twentieth  of  May,  on  the 
ground  of  the  clashing  between  the  two  copies  which  have  come 
down  to  us,  of  the  incompetency  of  witnesses  after  a  lapse  of  near 
half  a  century  to  prove  any  precise  words  in  a  series  of  resolves 
which  they  had  never  seen  in  print,  and  which  they  had  merely  heard 
read  at  a  public  meeting,  and  on  other  considerations.  I  now  take 
the  position  that  it  is  not  only  not  true  that  a  formal  declaration  of 
independence  was  made  at  the  time  and  place  aforesaid,  but  that  it 
is  impossible  to  be  true.  Fortunately  for  the  cause  of  sober  his 
tory,  the  same  body  of  men  who  are  reputed  to  have  made  the 
Mecklenburg  declaration  of  an  absolute  independence  of  the  British 
crown  on  the  twentieth  of  May,  1775,  prepared  an  elaborate  and 
admirable  series  of  resolves,  which  were  designed  as  a  plan  of  go 
vernment  for  the  county  of  Mecklenburg,  and  which  were  read  to 
the  people  on  the  same  spot,  on  the  thirtieth  of  May,  or  ten  days 
after  the  date  of  the  supposed  declaration,  and  were  published  far 
and  wide.  Now,  sir,  there  is  not  a  more  established  rule  of  evi 
dence  in  the  interpretation  of  public  documents  than  that  which 
ascertains  their  meaning  from  a  comparison  of  the  opinions  ex 
pressed  at  or  about  the  same  time  under  the  same  circumstances  or 
in  the  different  stages  of  the  same  case.  Let  us  apply  this  rule  to 
the  resolves  of  the  Mecklenburg  committee,  published  on  the  thir 
tieth  of  May,  the  authenticity  of  which  is  placed  beyond  all  doubt. 
A  learned  professor  of  this  college  has  recently  pronounced  the 
constitution  of  Virginia,  framed  by  the  Convention  of  1776,  the 


26  THE   MECKLENBURG   DECLARATION. 

first  written  constitution  of  a  free  state  in  the  annals  of  the  world;* 
and  he  has  said  truly.  But  why  did  he  make  such  an  assertion  ? 
Had  not  South  Carolina  formed  a  plan  of  government  before  the 
date  of  that  instrument  ?  Assuredly  she  had.  Had  not  New  Hamp 
shire  done  the  same  thing?  Yes,  sir,  she  had.  How  comes  it 
then  that  our  professor  asserts  for  Virginia  a  priority  of  claim  above 
her  sister  states  to  such  an  honor  ?  Simply  because  in  the  plans  of 
government  formed  by  the  states  aforesaid,  they  limited  the  exis 
tence  of  their  constitutions  until  such  time  as  the  difficulties  with 
the  mother  country  should  be  settled :  thus  recognising  by  such  a 
limitation  the  right  of  eminent  domain  in  the  British  crown.  With 
this  distinction  in  view,  let  us  look  at  the  resolves  of  the  thirtieth 
of  May,  by  the  Mecklenburg  committee.  And  here,  sir,  I  cannot 
express  myself  too  warmly  in  favor  of  the  superior  skill  with  which 
these  resolves  are  drawn.  They  deserve  to  rank  among  the  first 
compositions  of  the  great  era  in  which  they  appeared,  and  which 
they  adorn.  The  beauty  of  their  diction,  their  elegant  precision, 
the  wide  scope  of  statesmanship  which  they  exhibit,  prove  incontes- 
tibly  that  the  men  who  put  them  forth  were  worthy  of  their  high 
trust  at  that  difficult  crisis.  They  well  knew  the  progress  of  the 
controversy  with  the  mother  country,  and  the  temper  of  the  times. 
The  resolves  are  as  formal  and  as  regular  a  plan  of  government  for 
a  county,  and  almost  as  much  in  detail  as  our  own  constitution, 
(adopted  a  twelve  month  afterwards,)  was  for  a  state.  And  let  me 
say  they  are  from  the  pen  of  Ephraim  Brevard,  an  exalted  patriot, 
who,  not  content  with  the  use  of  words  however  gracefully  in  his 
country's  cause,  embarked  at  once  ia  the  military  service,  and  in 
his  capacity  as  surgeon  was  taken  prisoner  at  Charleston,  and  was 
at  last  dismissed  on  parole,  but  not  until  he  had  contracted  a  dis 
ease  of  which  he  died  soon  after  his  return  home.  Sir,  if  North 
Carolina,  like  our  own  Virginia,  were  not  too  backward  in  testifying 
by  overt  acts  her  regard  for  her  departed  patriots,  one  of  the  first 
questions  an  American  would  ask  on  entering  her  beautiful  metro 
polis  would  be:  where  is  the  monument  to  Brevard?  Well,  sir, 
this  paper,  drawn  with  such  consummate  skill,  speaks  for  itself,  and 
will  speak  forever.  It  discloses  all  the  purposes  and  plans  of  the 
committee.  Now  what  does  it  say  of  a  declaration  of  indepen- 

*  Discourse  before  the  Virginia  Historical  Society  in  1852,  by  Prof.  Washington. 


MECKLENBURG  RESOLUTIONS   OP   THE   THIRTIETH   OF   MAY.      2  7 

dence  alledged  to  have  been  made  ten  days  before  ?  Does  it  recog 
nise  in  its  elaborate  provisions  a  previous  formal  declaration  ?  It  is 
as  silent  as  the  grave  on  the  subject.  There  is  no  allusion  to  a  pre 
vious  meeting  at  all.  So  far  as  the  face  of  this  paper  shows,  there 
never  was  such  a  previous  meeting  for  independence  or  for  any 
thing  else.  But  this  is  not  all.  It  is,  not  only  silent  on  the  subject 
of  a  previous  declaration,  but  shows  that  it  is  impossible  that  any 
such  declaration  could  have  been  made.  For  it  adopts  the  course 
of  South  Carolina  and  New  Hampshire,  and  almost  their  words, 
and  provides  in  the  eighteenth  resolve  "that  these  resolves  shall 
bs  in  full  force  and  virtue  until  instructions  from  the  provincial 
Congress  (colonial  assembly)  regulating  the  jurisprudence  of  the 
province,  or  the  legislative  body  of  Great  Britain  resign  its  unjust 
and  arbitrary  pretensions  with  respect  to  Jlmerica  ;"  tlius  recognising 
in  the  plainest  terms  the  right  of  eminent  domain  in  the  British 
crown.  Now,  sir,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  character  of  the  men, 
and  observe  the  admirable  policy  prescribed  by  the  resolutions,  is  it 
not  clear  that  if  they  had  made  a  deliberate  declaration  of  inde 
pendence  only  ten  days  before,  they  would  still  have  maintained 
their  ground,  or,  if  they  thought  proper  to  sound  a  retreat,  would 
have  offered  some  shadow  of  apology  for  their  retrograde  move 
ment  ?  Sir,  the  case  is  palpable  enough.  They  never  made  any 
such  formal  declaration  at  all.  Hence  there  was  no  occasion  either 
for  retraction,  or  for  an  allusion  to  a  previous  meeting.  Let  us  sup 
pose  that  the  declaration  had  really  been  made;  let  us  suppose  that 
the  shout  which  we  are  recently  told  by  an  eloquent  divine  on  the 
announcement  of  the  declaration  had  rent  the  sky,  had  really  made 
all  the  confusion  in  the  upper  regions  which  he  said  it  made,  what 
would  have  followed  when  the  same  Col.  Polk,  who  read  the  sup 
posed  declaration,  again  appeared  after  an  interval  of  only  ten  days 
before  the  same  excited  multitude,  and  read  a  paper  which  recanted 
all  the  high  talk  about  an  absolution  of  allegiance,  and  which 
brought  the  people  back  again  under  the  heel  of  the  British  king — 
that  very  king  who  had  been  employing  that  interval  in  slaughter 
ing  their  brethren,  and  in  filling  our  cities  and  our  seas  with  a  hire 
ling  soldiery  ?  Sir,  no  sooner  had  the  recreant  words  been  uttered, 
than  the  click  of  a  hundred  triggers  would  have  greeted  the  ears  of 
the  traitor.  And,  if  he  escaped  alive,  it  would  have  been  only  to 
bear  a  name  as  infamous  as  that  of  Monteith  in  the  land  of  their 


28     MECKLENBURG   RESOLUTIONS    OF   THE   THIRTIETH   OF   MAY. 

Scottish  ancestors,  or  as  that  of  Arnold  subsequently  became  in  our 
own.  But  no  such  thing  happened,  and  for  the  best  of  all  reasons, 
— there  had  been  no  previous  declaration  ;  and  the  patriot  Polk  re 
ceived,  as  he  deserved,  the  hearty  congratulations  of  his  friends 
and  neighbors.  Now  then  the  whole  affair  of  the  Mecklenburg  dec 
laration  resolves  itself  into  this :  either  there  was  no  declaration,  or 
there  was.  If  there  was  none,  there  is  an  end  of  the  matter;  but. 
if  it  was  made,  then  was  it  ignominiously  recanted  ten  days  after  it 
was  made,  by  the  very  men  who  made  it,  on  the  spot  where  it  was 
made ;  aye,  in  the  presence  of  the  very  same  people  who  are 
reported  to  have  hailed  it  wkh  enthusiastic  applause,  and  who 
meanly  uttered  the  same  demonstrations  of  joy  when  they  were 
again  reduced  ten  days  after  under  the  vassalage  of  the  British 
king;  and  the  declaration  having  been  thus  recanted  by  those  who 
made  it,  lost  its  value  as  a  chart  of  honor,  and  can  no  longer  be 
exhibited  as  the  Prima  Charta  of  a  great  commonwealth,  and  the 
most  precious  of  her  patriotic  gems.  Thus,  sir,  it  is  seen,  that 
even  if  there  had  been  such  a  declaration,  as  assuredly  there  was 
not,  it  is  a  worthless  and  withered  thing,  and  not  to  be  introduced 
into  decent  history  in  comparison  with  the  authentic  acts  of  other 
states  on  the  same  subject.  Now,  if  I  were  disposed  to  imitate  the 
example  of  the  most  violent  advocate  of  the  Mecklenburg  declara 
tion,*  and  intermix  with  a  purely  patriotic  theme  the  rancor  of 
personal  and  political  prejudice,  might  I  not  go  on  and  affirm,  on 
the  strength  of  the  well  known  maxim  of  the  law — -falsum  in  uno 
falsum  in  omnibus — that,  as  the  resolution  of  the  twentieth  of  May 
about  independence  was  never  adopted,  so  none  of  its  associate 
resolutions  were  adopted  ?  And  might  I  not  go  a  step  farther,  and 
deny  that  there  was  any  meeting  at  all  on  the  twentieth  of  May  ? 
The  main  proof  that  is  brought  to  show  that  there  was  a  meeting  on 
that  day — for  the  resolutions  themselves,  even  if  they  were  genu 
ine,  as  they  have  no  date,  prove  nothing — is  the  parole  testimony  of 
five  or  six  old  ment  who  testify  their  belief  that  their  was  a  meet 
ing  held  on  that  day,  and  who,  after  such  a  lapse  of  time,  might 
naturally  enough  have  confounded  the  twentieth  with  the  thirtieth 
of  May,  when  a  glorious  meeting  was  really  held,  and  thus  have 
made  a  mistake  of  ten  days  in  forty  years.  For,  if  there  was  such 

*  Jones  in  his  "  Defence  of  North  Carolina." 
f  Dr.  Hawks'  Lecture, 


MECKLENBURG   RESOLUTIONS   OF   THE   THIRTIETH   OF  MAY.     29 

a  meeting,  what  did  it  do,  and  why  the  necessity  of  another  meet 
ing  ten  days  after?  And  might  I  not  carry  the  war  of  retaliation 
still  farther,  and  accuse  all  those  honorable  men  who  have  upheld 
the  genuineness  of  the  declaration  with  their  testimony,  their  aiders 
and  abettors,  as  so  many  conspirators  against  the  truth  of  history 
and  the  rightful  claim  of  Virginia  to  her  primal  honors  in  the 
cause  of  independence,  which  for  almost  half  a  century  she  had 
gracefully  worn,  and  which,  it  now  appears,  so  far  as  the  Mecklen 
burg  declaration  is  concerned,  she  will  wear  forever  ?  And,  if  it 
were  alledged  that  so  many  reputable  people  as  those  who  testify  in 
favor  of  the  declaration  and  argue  in  its  defence  cannot  be  de 
ceived,  might  I  not  point  to  the  story  of  the  Ossian  fraud  in  the 
history  of  the  land  from  which  the  ancestors  of  the  Mecklenburg 
people,  and  some  of  the  people  themselves,  came — a  fraud  that  was 
sustained  by  the  learned  and  the  ignorant  alike,  by  the  professor 
from  his  chair  and  by  the  peasant  in  his  hovel  ?  Could  I  not  show 
that  there  were  thousands  of  men  in  every  station  of  life  ready  to 
swear,  and  did  swear,  that  they  had  heard  in  their  infancy  the  wild 
rant  of  McPherson,  and  to  lay  down  their  lives  in  defence  of  the 
authenticity  of  Ossian  ?  And  could  I  not  point  out,  as  an  apt  coin 
cidence,  that  a  learned  Scotch  theologian,*  as  a  learned  and  eloquent 
North  Carolina  theologian  has  recently  done  in  the  Mecklenburg 
affair,  put  forth  a  most  elaborate  argument  in  defence  of  the  bard  of 
the  mountain  and  the  mist?  And  might  not  I  charge,  as  was 
charged  against  Scotland,  that  the  whole  people  of  Carolina  were 
banded  together  to  maintain  per  fas  aut  nefas  their  title  to  what 
they  deem  their  most  distinguished  honor  ?  But,  sir,  I  will  use  no 
such  language,  and  for  the  best  of  all  reasons — it  would  not  reflect 
my  feelings.  I  know  too  well  the  tendency  of  the  human  mind  in 
its  highest  and  best  estate  to  err,  and  how  frail  the  recollections  of 
men  are  after  a  lapse  of  years,  and  I  love  and  venerate  the  memory 
of  the  patriots  of  North  Carolina  with  that  large  and  overflowing 
measure  which  they  deserve  from  every  American  heart.  And 
especially  would  I  refrain  from  words  of  recrimination,  because  I 
should  be  imitating  an  example  which  I  would  most  studiously 
avoid,  of  the  most  strenuous  advocate  of  the  Mecklenburg  declara 
tion  in  the  wanton  harshness  and  bitter  personal  enmity  with  which 
he  has  assailed  Virginia's  greatest  statesman,  who  was  educated 

*  Dr.  Blair  in  his  dissertation  on  Ossian, 


30         THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   RESOLUTION   OF   INDEPENDENCE. 

within  your  walls,  and  whose  name  is  the  proudest  and  most  glo 
rious  ever  recorded  on  your  rolls. 

In  closing  this  branch  of  our  subject,  let  me  speak  a  word  to  our 
Carolina  friends  in  the  spirit  of  respect  and  friendship.  Drop  the 
Mecklenburg  declaration  so  called.  If  it  is  false,  it  is  unworthy  of 
the  regard  of  all  honest  men;  and,  if  it  be  true,  it  impugns  the 
courage  and  wisdom  of  your  purest  patriots,  and  derogates  from  the 
majesty  and  grandeur  of  the  noble  resolutions  of  the  thirtieth  of 
May.  These  are  ample  enough  to  fill  the  measure  of  the  loftiest 
patriotism.  Fall  back  upon  them,  or  rather  advance  to  them  ;  and 
with  these  in  her  hand,  North  Carolina  may  take  what  place  she 
pleases  in  the  history  of  our  common  country. 

But  there  is  another  claimant  for  the  honor  of  the  first  declara 
tion  of  independence,  who  has  recently  appeared,  and  whose  title, 
taken  from  the  record,  is  pronounced  indisputable.  And  whom  do 
you  take  this  new  claimant  to  be?  Why,  sir,  she  is  a  sovereign 
state,  and  the  very  one  of  all  the  sisterhood  of  states  whom  I  would 
wish  to  wrear  the  honor,  if  Virginia  is  at  last  to  lose  it  from  that  brow 
which  for  almost  eighty  years  it  has  so  well  become.  It  is  none  other 
than  North  Carolina  herself,  appearing  this  time  not  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  one  of  her  counties,  but  in  her  proper  person  and  in 
her  own  right.  And  are  we,  Mr.  President,  to  lose  the  honor  at 
last?  Is  that  precious  treasure  which  our  dear  departed  fathers 
valued  so  highly,  and  thought  so  safe,  to  be  taken  from  us  at  this 
late  day,  and  forever?  Well,  let  it  go.  Let  Carolina  wear  it  as 
worthily  as  her  elder  sister  has  worn  it,  and  we  will  not  complain. 
Still,  before  we  part  with  it,  it  is  at  least  becoming  to  look  into  the 
title  of  her  who  claims  it.  Here  it  is.  In  the  same  lecture  before 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  in  which  Dr.  Hawks  defends 
with  so  much  ability  the  Mecklenburg  declaration,  this  eloquent 
son  of  Carolina,  who  though  no  longer  a  resident  within  her  limits, 
cherishes  her  glory  with  truly  filial  affection,  produced  a  resolution 
of  the  provincial  Congress  of  that  State  on  the  subject  of  indepen 
dence  adopted  on  the  twelfth  of  April,  1776,  which  is  a  month 
earlier  than  the  resolution  of  Virginia,  which  I  not  long  since  read, 
instructing  her  delegates  in  Congress  to  propose  independence. 
Here  it  is : 

"  Resolved,  that  the  delegates  for  this  Colony  in  the  Continental 
Congress  be  empowered  to  concur  with  the  delegates  of  the  other 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   RESOLUTION   OF   INDEPENDENCE.        31 

Colonies  in  declaring  independence,  and  forming  foreign  alliances, 
reserving  to  this  Colony  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  forming  a 
constitution  and  laws  for  this  Colony,  and  of  appointing  delegates 
from  time  to  time,  (under  the  direction  of  a  general  representative 
thereof,)  to  meet  the  delegates  of  the  other  Colonies." 

Are  you  satisfied?  Will  you  give  up  the  ship?  After  all  our 
trouble  in  tripping  that  buxom  daughter  of  Mecklenburg,  are  we  to 
have  the  old  woman  come  down  upon  us  with  a  vengeance  after  all? 
One  thing  is  certain.  We  cannot  fight  this  resolution  with  dates. 
Nor  can  we  impugn  its  authenticity.  These  points  are  settled  by 
the  undoubted  record.  What  shall  we  do?  At  all  events,  before 
we  strike  our  flag,  let  us  look  our  foe  fairly  in  the  face.  When  he 
had  read  the  North  Carolina  resolution,  the  accomplished  lecturer 
proceeds  to  say:  "This,  we  repeat,  is  the  first  open  and  public 
declaration  for  independence,  by  the  proper  authority  of  any  one  of 
the  Colonies,  that  can  be  found  on  record."  Now,  sir,  with  all  due 
deference,  I  deny  that  this  Carolina  resolution  is  any  declaration 
for  independence  at  all.  The  Carolina  Congress,  so  far  from  de 
claring  independence,  does  not  even  instruct  its  delegates  in  gene 
ral  Congress  to  bring  it  forward.  Nor  is  this  all.  It  not  only 
fails  to  instruct  the  delegates  to  bring  forward  a  declaration,  but 
even  to  vote  for  one  when  brought  forward  by  others.  The  resolu 
tion  contains  no  instruction  whatever.  All  that  it  pretends  to  do  is 
to  confer  on  the  delegates  in  Congress  a  naked  power  of  concurring 
with  others  in  declaring  independence,  provided,  always,  that  the 
delegates  choose  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  so  doing.  So  far 
as  this  resolution  is  concerned,  if  the  declaration  had  not  been  made 
to  this  hour,  and  the  Carolina  delegates  had  abstained  from  bringing 
forward  a  proposition  in  favor  of  one,  they  would  have  kept  within 
its  legitimate  scope ;  and  if  a  declaration  had  been  brought  forth  by 
others,  and  the  Carolina  delegates  had  unanimously  refused  to  sus 
tain  it,  they  would  still  have  acted  within  the  scope  of  the  resolu 
tion,  which  gives  them  the  naked  power  of  voting  for  a  declaration, 
but  throws  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  act  on  the  delegates, 
who  might  or  might  not  assume  it.  as  they  thought  proper.  Nay,  so 
far  as  this  resolution  is  concerned,  the  Carolina  delegates,  even 
though  all  the  delegates  from  the  other  states  had  assented  to  the 
declaration,  might  have  withheld  their  assent  up  to  this  very  hour 
of  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  yet  complied 


32        THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  RESOLUTION   OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

fully  with  all  the  requisitions  which  it  imposed  upon  them.  That 
the  terms  of  the  resolution  are  not  casual  or  accidental,  but  were 
drawn  with  considerate  caution,  may  be  inferred  from  one  fact, 
among  others,  that  the  body  which  passed  it  had  voted  down  a  pro 
position  in  favor  of  independence  at  a  preceding  session,  when,  by 
the  way,  one  of  the  Mecklenburg  committee  which  is  said  to  have 
declared  independence  on  the  twentieth  of  May  of  the  previous 
year  was  present,  and  helped  to  vote  down  the  resolution  for  inde 
pendence.  That  the  Carolina  resolution  was  drawn  with  deliberate 
caution,  is  supported  by  contemporaneous  testimony,  and  was  a 
common  topic  of  remark  by  our  fathers  at  the  time.  Thus  a 
writer  under  the  signature  of  Aristides  in  the  Virginia  Gazette  of 
the  thirty-first  of  May,  1776,  calls  attention  to  the  manifest  dis 
tinction  between  the  resolution  of  North  Carolina,  which  merely 
empowers  her  delegates  to  vote  for  independence  at  their  own  will 
and  pleasure,  and  the  resolution  of  Virginia  which  peremptorily 
instructs  her  delegates  to  propose  independence  whether  they  are 
willing  or  not.  This  writer  remarks:  "The  two  Carolinas  (so  it 
seems  that  South  Carolina  comes  in  for  her  share  of  honor  as  well 
as  North)  have  agreed  to  concur  in  all  measures  that  may  be 
approved  by  Congress  for  the  general  welfare  of  the  American 
empire.  Virginia  ALONE  stands  up,  and  gives  the  great  example 
with  positive  orders  to  her  delegates  to  vote  for  independence  at  all 
events."  The  resolution  of  North  Carolina  was  then  well  under 
stood  at  the  time,  as  assuming  no  responsibility  on  the  subject  of  an 
immediate  declaration,  but  as  throwing  it  upon  her  delegates,  who 
might  or  might  not  assume  it  as  they  pleased.  Should  they  assume 
it,  then  and  not  till  then  did  her  responsibility  begin.  That  her 
delegates  were  not  likely  to  be  too  forward  in  their  action,  both  Mr. 
Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams  bear  significant  testimony.*  The  decided 
tone  of  the  Virginia  resolution  settled  the  subject  at  once.  The 
resolution  for  independence  was  instantly  brought  forward  by  one 
of  her  delegates,  and  was  in  due  time  adopted.  There  was  no 

*  I  mean  not  the  slightest  reflection  on  the  patriots  who  composed  the  North 
Carolina  delegation,  and  Professor  Tucker  has  shown  that  Mr.  Jefferson  did  not 
use  the  words  which  have  given  so  much  offence  in  the  sense  imputed  to  them ; 
but  the  letters  of  Jefferson  and  Adams  show  that  they  did  not  regard  the  North 
Carolina  delegation  as  eager  for  independence.  It  was  a  question  of  time,  on 
which  the  purest  and  ablest  patriots  differed,  and  might  well  differ.  South  Caro 
lina  voted  against  the  resolution  of  Congress,  declaring  that  the  Colonies  were 
free  and  independent. 


THE   NORTH   CAROLINA   RESOLUTION   OF   INDEPENDENCE.        33 

shrinking  from  instant  responsibility,  there  was  no  delay,  but  prompt 
and  conclusive  action  followed.  With  this  fair  representation  of 
the  whole  case,  may  we  not  safely  affirm  that  the  resolution  of 
North  Carolina,  which  was  in  fact  no  positive  declaration  at  all, 
which  did  not  even  enjoin  upon  her  delegates  to  sustain  indepen 
dence  when  proposed  by  others,  and  which  was  well  known  by  our 
fathers,  and  regarded  for  what  it  was  \vorth,  can  never  be  brought 
into  comparison  for  a  moment  with  the  bold  and  timely  movement 
of  Virginia  ?  And  am  I  not  right  in  concluding  that  Virginia  may 
continue  to  wear  the  honor  of  the  "first  open  and  public  declara 
tion  for  independence  by  the  proper  authority  of  any  one  of  the 
Colonies  that  can  be  found  on  record,"  until  some  more  potent 
claimant  shall  arise  to  take  it  from  her?  And  may  I  not  say  to  the 
eloquent  Carolinian,  that  he  must  first  hunt  up  some  other  act  of 
his  beloved  State,  duly  spread  upon  the  record,  which  she  has  per 
formed,  or  some  downright  and  instant  responsibility  which  she  has 
assumed  in  favor  of  independence,  prior  to  the  fifteenth  day  of 
May,  1776,  before  she  is  entitled  to  bear  away  from  our  venerated 
mother  the  laurel  which  she  has  worn  so  long  ?  And  let  me  tell 
him  that,  when  such  a  case  is  fairly  made  out,  Virginia  will  not 
higgle  upon  trifles ;  but,  as  she  has  freely  and  magnanimously  given 
vast  principalities  to  be  divided  among  her  associate  states,  so  she 
will  be  ever  ready  to  unbind  her  own  laurels,  and  twine  them  with 
her  own  fingers  about  the  brow  of  a  worthier  sister? 

If  I  may  appear,  Mr.  President,  to  have  dwelt  too  long  on  the 
topics  which  I  have  discussed,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  if  Vir 
ginians  will  not  take  the  trouble  of  preserving  the  glory  of  their 
ancestors  intact,  nobody  will  perform  the  office  in  their  behalf;  and 
although  I  am  quite  willing  to  confess,  that,  whether  our  fathers 
performed  a  noble  action  on  one  day  or  another  is  comparatively 
unimportant,  yet,  as  other  states  have  embarked  in  the  race  of  dates, 
and  are  ready  to  found  upon  them  high  claims  to' public  conside 
ration,  it  is  only  fair  that  the  case  of  our  own  state  be  plainly  set 
forth,  fully  conscious  as  we  are,  that  it  will  speak  for  itself.  And, 
if  the  reputation  of  Virginia  is  to  be  defended,  what  ground  is  more 
appropriate  than  that  which  we  are  now  treading,  what  place  more 
becoming  than  beneath  the  roof  which  sheltered  the  infancy  of 
many  of  those  eminent  men  who  wrought  out  her  independence, 
and  of  others  who  have  since  illustrated  her  name  with  unfading 
3 


34  ELECTION   OF   GOVERNOR. 

honor,  and  within  the  limits  of  this  city  where  stood  her  ancient 
capitol  in  which  she  first  defied  the  power  of  the  British  king,  from 
which  she  sent  forth  her  resolution  for  independence,  in  which  she 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  young  Commonwealth,  and  beside  the 
moral  grandeur  of  which  the  proudest  structure  ever  reared  by  hu 
man  hands  vanishes  as  the  vision  of  a  dream  ? 

When  the  Convention  adopted  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June  the 
new  constitution,  the  members  proceeded  immediately,  in  pursuance 
of  its  provisions,  to  elect  a  governor,  a  council  of  state,  and  an 
attorney  general.*  PATRICK  HENRY,  Jr.,  as  he  was  then  called — 
for  his  venerable  uncle  of  the  same  name,  who  had  kindly  retired 
at  his  request  from  the  court  ground  at  Hanover  when  the  young 
orator  was  about  to  make  his  debut  in  the  parson's  cause,  who  lived 
to  see  his  namesake  take  up  his  abode  in  the  palace  heretofore 
occupied  by  the  representatives  of  the  British  king,  and  who  made 
him  the  executor  of  his  will,  still  survived — Patrick.  Henry  was 
elected  the  first  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  by  a  majority  of  fif 
teen  votes  over  Thomas  Nelson,  the  elder,  who  received  forty-five  ;  a 
result  which  probably  showed  the  state  of  parties  as  they  existed  at 
the  commencement  of  the  session.  A  committee  of  several  mem 
bers,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  GEORGE  MASON,  was  appointed  to 
inform  the  governor  of  his  election,  which  duty  they  promptly  per 
formed,  and  reported  his  acceptance  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the 
house,  which  is  a  graceful  specimen  of  his  style,  and  which  is  re 
markable  as  the  first  paper  from  the  chair  of  an  American  execu 
tive,  which  contains  the  magical  words  now  so  familiar  to  us  all — 
"the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia,"  and  "fellow-citizen."  A  man 
of  the  times,  he  seems  at  once  to  have  fallen  into  the  peculiar 
phraseology  of  the  new  era;  but,  as  the  letter  is  to  be  found  in 
Wirt  and  in  the  Journal  of  the  Convention,  I  shall  not  trouble  you 
with  it  for  the  present. 

Within  five  days  after  the  election  of  the  governor  and  council, 
and  when  the  body  had  dispatched  a  large  amount  of  current  busi 
ness — for,  as  I  have  said,  up  to  this  period  it  was  the  legislative, 

*  The  names  of  the  council  were  John  Page,  Dudley  Dirges,  John  Tayloe, 
John  Blair,  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Berkeley,  Bartholomew  Daridridge,  Thomas 
Nelson,  and  Charles  Carter,  of  Shirley.  Thomas  Nelson  declined  serving  on 
account  of  his  infirmities,  and  Benjamin  Harrison,  of  Brandon,  was  next  day 
elected  in  his  stead.  Edmund  Randolph  was  appointed  Attorney  General.  The 
salary  of  the  Governor  was  £1,000,  that  of  the  council  to  be  apportioned  ac 
cording  to  attendance,  £1,600,  and  that  of  the  Attorney  General  £200. 


APPEARANCE  OF  THE  CONVENTION.  35 

and,  when  in  session,  the  executive  of  the  Colony,  and,  among  other 
things,  had  adapted  the  liturgy  to  the  new  state  of  things,  approved 
the  design  of  a  common  seal,  and  provided  that  the  constitution 
should  be  "published  in  the  respective  parish  churches  and  meet 
ing-houses  for  two  Sundays  successively,  immediately  after  divine 
service;"  the  Convention  adjourned  on  the  fifth  of  July.  And 
it  ought  to  remind  us  of  the  fleeting  nature  of  our  mortal  existence} 
when  we  reflect  that  of  all  who  aided  in  forming  the  constitution, 
and  of  all  who  heard  it  proclaimed  in  the  churches,  not  a  solitary 
survivor  remains.  And  even  the  constitution  itself  has  passed 
away,  but  not  until  it  had  fulfilled  its  office,  and  for  half  a  century 
had  diffused  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  law  over  a  free,  a  great, 
and  a  happy  people. 

It  is  high  time,  sir,  that  we  become  better  acquainted  with  the 
individual  members  who  composed  the  Convention  ;  and  I  confess 
that  this  is  the  main  point  of  view  in  which  I  would  present  my 
subject,  feeling,  as  I  do,  most  painfully,  that  their  memory,  which 
ought  to  be  as  lasting  as  the  hills,  as  living  as  the  streams,  and  as 
fresh  as  the  flowers  of  the  lovely  land  which  they  have  bequeathed 
to  us,  is  fast  fading  from  the  public  mind.  Let  us  look  at  the  mem 
bers  as  they  are  sitting  in  solemn  assembly.  You  see  at  once  that 
it  is  an  august  body.  You  mark,  indeed,  a  variety  of  character  in 
those  manly  faces  and  in  those  stalwart  forms,  and  a  various  cos 
tume.  You  can  tell  the  men  who  come  from  the  bay  counties  and 
from  the  banks  of  the  large  rivers,  and  who,  from  the  facility  with 
which  they  could  exchange  their  products  for  British  goods,  are 
clothed  in  foreign  fabrics.  You  can  also  tell  those  who  live  off 
from  the  great  arteries  of  trade,  far  in  the  interior,  in  the  shadow  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  in  the  Valley,  and  in  that  splendid  principality  out 
of  which  the  county  of  Botetourt  had  been  lately  formed  and  named 
in  honor  of  the  popular  and  lamented  Berkeley,  but  which  still 
stretched  onward  to  the  Mississippi,  and  was  called  West  Augusta. 
These  are  mostly  clad  in  homespun,  or  in  the  more  substantial 
buckskin,  which  so  early  and  so  long  gave  a  name  at  home  and 
abroad  to  our  people.*  The  well  powdered  wig,  you  see,  with  its 

*  The  worthy  Mrs.  Glass,  the  tobacconist,  in  the  Heart  of  Midlothian,  propo 
ses  to  send  the  unfortunate  but  beautiful  Effie  Deans  to  her  Virginia  correspon 
dent  Ephraim  Buckskin,  Esq.,  who  had  left  with  her  a  standing  order  for  a 
wife.  Many  members  of  the  assembly  up  to  the  present  century  wore  buck 
skin  breeches.  John  Clarke,  of  Campbell,  wore  them  to  the  last.  The  last 


36  THE  DRESS  OF  MEMBERS. 

graceful  curls  and  ample  proportions,  was  freely  worn.  That  on 
the  head  of  the  great  orator  of  the  assembly  looks  rather  the  worse 
for  wear.  Some  of  the  members,  you  perceive,  still  cling  to  the 
cocked  hat;  others  have  native  hunting  caps  in  their  hands,  and 
others  again,  who  are  young  and  dressy,  wear  those  conical  hats 
that  you  see  on  the  heads  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  the  paintings  of  the  time  of  the  Protectorate,  and  which  were 
now  coming  into  vogue.*  The  sword,  which  had  been  worn  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  the  days  of  Sir  Robert  "Walpole,  had  gone 
out  of  fashion,  except  on  high  state  occasions ;  but  many  of  the 
members  from  the  interior  had  come  to  the  city  well  armed ;  for 
they  had  heard  that  Norfolk  had  been  burned  to  ashes  three  months 
before  by  Dunmore,  who  controlled  the  waters  of  the  Colony,  and 
who  might  peep  in  upon  them  in  this  city  merely  to  see  what 
they  were  about.  If  you  look  more  closely  at  the  members,  you 
will  be  struck  with  their  noble  stature.  You  mark  their  dignified 
mien,  their  high  bearing.  There  are  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
in  all,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  finer  looking  men  are 
rarely  seen  together.  Their  courage,  their  intelligence,  their  patri 
otism,  their  physical  capacity  to  endure  the  toils  of  war  which  some 
of  them  were  to  court,  and  the  trophies  of  which  some  of  them 
were  to  win,  were  calculated  to  inspire  the  people  with  resolution 
to  prosecute  the  great  contest  to  which  they  were  now  fully  com 
mitted.  There  were,  indeed,  some  aged  men,  better  fitted  for  the 
council  than  the  field,  and  of  these  we  shall  presently  speak. 
Whence,  do  you  inquire,  did  this  band  of  patriots  come  ?  From 
what  stock  did  they  spring?  Whence  that  devoted  spirit  of  liberty, 
that  ennobling  love  of  country,  which  was  impelling  them  to  the 

pair  of  buckskin  breeches  that  I  have  seen,  belonged  to  the  wardrobe  of  the 
late  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke.  They  were  elegantly  made,  evidently  by  a 
London  tailor. 

*  Mr.  Madison  wore  one  of  the  conical  hats,  and  was  so  unfortunate  as  to 
have  it  stolen  from  the  passage  of  a  house  in  Williamsburg,  where  he  was  visit 
ing.  He  used  to  tell  how  embarrassed  he  was  by  the  loss  of  his  hat  at  a  time 
when  from  the  non-importation  laws  it  was  difficult  to  supply  its  place.  By  the 
way,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  the  House  of  Burgesses,  though 
studi  ously  observant  of  all  the  forms  of  the  House  of  Commons,  never  adopted 
the  practice  of  wearing  hats  during  the  session.  Nor  did  the  chairman  in  com 
mittee  of  the  whole  take  the  chair  of  the  speaker,  but  sat  at  the  clerk's  table. 
And  when  the  house  was  in  committee,  the  mace  was  taken  from  the  table  of 
the  clerk  and  placed  beneath  it.  And  it  may  be  observed  here,  that  the  mem 
bers  of  the  different  Conventions  took  no  oaths ;  while  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses  always  took  the  oaths  taken  by  the  members  of  the 
House  of  Commons. 


THE  VIRGINIA  CHARACTER.  37 

field  against  the  most  formidable  nation  of  the  earth,  rather  than 
pay  a  trifling  tax  on  tea — an  article  which  many  of  them  would 
have  scorned  to  taste  ?*  O !  that  the  history  of  such  a  race  were 
worthily  written.  0!  that  our  historians,  instead  of  beginning  and 
ending  with  the  acts  of  the  beggarly  governors  who  for  a  century 
and  a  half  were  sent  over  to  fatten  on  the  revenues  of  the  Colony, 
and  calling  such  a  record  Virginia's  history,  had  looked  to  the  races 
from  which  this  glorious  stock  had  risen,  their  high  spirit,  their 
burning  patriotism  !  These  writers  tell  us  that  these  noble  quali 
ties  have  been  derived  from  a  class  of  men  who  came  over  from 
time  to  time,  few  and  far  between,  and  under  the  name  of  cavaliers 
sought  a  livelihood  in  the  Colony.  Miserable  figment!  Outrage 
ous  calumny !  Why,  sir,  the  cavalier  was  essentially  a  slave — a 
compound  slave — a  slave  to  the  king  and  a  slave  to  the  church. 
He  was  the  last  man  in  the  world  from  whom  any  great  elemental 
principle  of  liberty  and  law  could  come.  He  was  as  incapable  of 
transmitting  such  a  principle  to  others,  as  he  was  of  conceiving  it 
himself.  It  is  true  that  some  of  this  class  did  come  over  at  intervals. 
Some  came  with  the  gallant  JOHN  SMITH  ;  but,  when  he  found  out 
how  worthless  they  were,  he  implored  the  Virginia  company  to 
send  no  more.  Even  the  gallant  Smith  himself  left  the  Colony  af 
ter  a  short  sojourn,  and  was  soon  followed  by  PERCY,  whom  the 
first  honors  of  the  colony  could  not  tempt  to  remain  within  its  bor 
ders.!  But  when  the  great  gold  shipment  turned  to  dross,  the 
cavalier  came  no  more.  A  home  in  the  wilderness,  to  be  cleared 
by  his  own  axe,  and  guarded  by  his  own  musket  against  a  wily  foe, 
was  no  place  for  the  voluptuary  and  the  idler.  The  size  of  the 

*  Tea  was  used  by  the  great  families  of  the  seaboard,  and  in  some  of  the 
wealthier  ones  in  the  interior;  but  its  use  was  not  general.  As  it  was  costly,  it 
became  a  proverb  when  a  family  accustomed  to  use  it  fell  into  pecuniary  trou 
bles,  "  so  much  for  drinking  tea."  I  have  seen  the  early  silver  spoons  introduced 
into  Charlotte  county.  They  would  be  lost  in  a  modern  cup.  Coffee  in  time 
became  the  favorite  beverage,  but  was  used  sparingly.  There  are  persons  now 
living  who  remember  when  in  wealthy  families  coffee  was  used  on  Sunday 
mornings  only.  In  the  early  days  of  Hampden  Sidney  College,  neither  tea  nor 
coffee  was  used.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  instances,  habits  and  customs 
brought  over  by  the  colonists  survived  long  after  they  were  dropped  in  the 
mother  country.  If  the  present  generation  be  inclined  to  associate  meanness 
and  poverty  with  the  absence  of  tea  and  coffee,  it  should  be  remembered  that 
neither  was  used  at  the  magnificent  banquet  at  Kenelworth,  which  Leicester 
gave  to  Elizabeth,  and  which  some  of  the  first  colonists  may  have  seen. 

f  We  are  indebted  to  Conway  Robinson,  Esq.  that  a  fine  portrait  of  Percy, 
copied  from  the  original  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  now 
adorns  the  hall  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society. 


38  CHARACTER   OF   THE   CAVALIER. 

farms  patented  before  the  civil  wars  shows  that  they  were  culti 
vated,  if  not  by  the  personal  labor,  at  least  under  the  immediate 
and  constant  supervision  of  their  owners.  During  the  civil  wars 
some  of  the  cavaliers  fled  hither,  as  they  did  to  other  parts  of 
the  world,  from  the  edge  of  that  Anglo-Saxon  sword  which  was 
wielded  so  effectually  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  England  ;*  but. 
when  that  contest  was  over,  and  British  freedom  had  fallen  by 
the  treason  of  its  friends,  many  of  those  ardent  supporters  of  despo 
tism  in  church  and  state  returned  to  their  old  home  as  a  more  con 
genial  place  for  them.  Sir,  I  look  with  contempt  on  that  miserable 
figment,  which  has  so  long  held  a  place  in  our  histories,  which 
seeks  to  trace  the  distinguishing  and  salient  points  of  the  Virginia 
character  to  the  influence  of  those  butterflies  of  the  British  aristo 
cracy,  who,  unable  to  earn  their  bread  at  home,  came  over  to  the 
Colony  to  feed  on  whatever  crumbs  they  might  gather  in  some 
petty  office,  or  from  the  race-course,  or  from  the  gaming  table,  in 
stead  of  regarding  those  distinctive  traits  as  the  legitimate  results 
of  a  great  Anglo-Saxon  people  placed  in  a  position  of  all  others 
best  adapted  to  the  full  and  generous  development  of  their  pecu 
liar  virtues.  The  secret  of  our  colonial  character  lies  far  deeper. 
If  you  W7ill  look  into  the  reigns  of  Henry  the  eighth  and  Elizabeth, 
you  will  find  some  of  the  causes  which  led  to  the  settlement  of  Vir 
ginia.  For  a  long  series  of  years  the  domestic  policy  of  England,  as 
distinguished  from  its  civil  and  political,  had  been  assuming  a  form 
most  odious  to  the  bulk  of  the  people.  The  effect  of  that  policy 
was  to  make  the  rich  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer.  The  tenure  of 
villenage  was  indeed  abolished;  but  this  privilege  tended  to  make 
things  rather  worse  than  better ;  for  every  man  was  bound  to  main 
tain  himself  and  his  family  in  a  country  in  which  almost  every  foot 
of  land  belonged  to  the  church,  to  the  nobility,  or  to  the  king.  But 
what  greatly  added  to  the  embarrassments  of  the  poor  was  the 
comparative  abandonment  of  tillage  by  the  wealthy  proprietors,  es 
pecially  during  the  reigns  of  Henry  the  eighth  and  Elizabeth,  and 
the  laying  down  all  the  best  lands  in  pasturage. t  Hume  tells  us 
that  a  single  farmer  would  own  four  and  twenty  thousand  sheep, 

*  If  the  reader  wishes  to  see  a  curious  group  of  cavaliers  who  had  fled  to 
Virginia  in  1649,  let  him  consult  Col.  Norwood's  Voyage  to  Virginia.  Va.  His 
torical  Register,  Vol.  II,  136. 

f  Consult  Hume,  reign  of  Henry  the  eighth. 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE  VIRTUES   OP  THE  ANGLO-SAXONS.       39 

and  that  laws  were  repeatedly  enacted  to  restrain  a  policy  which 
threw  the  laboring  population  almost  wholly  out  of  employment,  but 
were  enacted  in  vain.  It  was  when  this  obnoxious  policy  had 
wrought  its  effect,  that  the  Colony  of  Virginia  was  open  for  settle 
ment.  During  the  existence  of  the  Virginia  company,  which  con 
trolled  emigration,  the  rush  of  the  people  to  the  new  world,  though 
their  attention  had  been  awakened  oh-  the  subject,  had  not  fairly 
begun;  but  when  the  charter  of  the  company  was  withdrawn,  and 
before  1670,  the  human  tide  began  to  flow  in  a  deeper  and  wider 
stream  than  had  yet  been  seen  in  the  history  of  European  coloniza 
tion.  In  1670,  when  the  population  of  the  Colony  did  not  exceed 
forty  thousand  persons,  of  whom  two  thousand  only  were  slaves, 
Sir  William  Berkeley  deposed  in  his  answers  to  the  lords  commis 
sioners  of  plantations,  that  the  annual  number  of  emigrants  for  the 
seven  previous  years  reached  fifteen  hundred;*  a  wonderful  emi 
gration,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  tonnage  of  the  ships  of  that  day, 
and  surpassing  in  proportion  that  which  is  now  crowding  to  our 
shores.  And  let  me  say  in  passing  that,  if  we  look  to  the  history 
of  the  times,  we  may  fairly  presume  that  among  the  emigrants,  as 
is  freely  confessed  by  Beverley  when  it  suited  his  purpose  so  to  do, 
were  many  of  those  brave  men  who  had  served  under  Cromwell, 
and  whose  backs,  as  has  been  truly  said,  no  enemy  ever  saw.t 
This  was  in  the  regular  course  of  events.  But  when  some  great 
political  commotion  occurred  in  England,  such  as  the  Monmouth 
rebellion, t  when  some  great  calamity  raged,  as  the  plague  in  Lon 
don,  the  number  of  emigrants  was  proportionally  enhanced.  At 
such  a  rate  of  addition  as  stated  by  Berkeley,  the  population  of  the 
Colony,  including  the  native  increase,  would  double  itself  in  a  very 
short  time.  And  who  were  these  emigrants  that  crowded  to  our 
shores  ?  Were  they  cavaliers,  with  their  soft  hands  complained  of 
by  Smith  as  unknowing  of  the  axe,  and  with  their  pack  of  trumpery 
fashions  on  their  backs  ?  0  !  no,  sir.  Their  good-natured  but  un 
principled  and  ungrateful  monarch  was  now  on  his  throne.  The 
mouldering  remains  of  the  greatest  character  in  peace  and  in  war 
which  England  had  ever  known  were  torn  from  the  grave  and 
chained  to  the  gibbet.  Hard  work  had  no  charms  for  men  who 

*  Va.  Hist.  Reg.  Vol.  Ill,  10.     f  Beverley  calls  them  Oliverians. 

J  See  C.  Campbell's  History,  p.  99,  where  the  cruel  letter  of  Sunderland  con 
cerning  the  rebels  is  given  at  length. 


40  CAUSES  OF  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  COLONY. 

were  contending  for  the  smiles  of  Eleanor  Gwynn,  or  were  ena 
mored  of  the  more  exquisite  graces  of  the  Querouaille.  Who  then 
composed  that  living  stream  which  was  to  diffuse  civilization 
through  the  new  world,  and  who  were  to  make  the  wilderness  blos 
som  as  the  rose  ?  They  were  poor,  very  poor  in  worldly  goods ; 
many  of  them  could  not  pay  their  passage,  and  were  sold  for  a  time 
as  servants,  passing  through  a  stern  but  wholesome  apprenticeship 
on  the  plantations,  which  prepared  them  in  due  time  to  set  up  for 
themselves.  They  were  the  very  men  above  all  others  whom  we 
could  wish  them  to  have  been.  They  were  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
that  unconquerable  people,  whom,  made  up  of  the  Britons,  the  An 
gles,  the  Danes,  the  Finns,  the  Jutes,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Normans, 
we  call,  for  the  want  of  a  better  name,  the  Anglo-Saxons ;  a  people 
as  remarkable  for  their  love  of  rural  life  as  they  were  terrible  in 
war.  They  were  the  descendants  of  the  men  who.  under  the  vali 
ant  kings  of  Britain,  struck  terror  into  the  fiercest  legions  of  France, 
and  made  the  names  of  Poictiers  and  Agincourt  classic  words  in 
British  story.  It  was  the  brothers  of  those  very  men,  and  some  of 
the  men  themselves,  who  made  the  army  of  Cromwell  more  formi 
dable  than  the  hosts  of  the  Edwards  and  Henries  ever  were,  and 
who  scourged  the  cavalier  so  sorely  that  he  did  not  feel  safe  in  his 
shoon  until  he  had  the  sea  between  him  and  his  foe.  As  for  the 
Valley  of  Virginia,  the  Germans  owed  no  obligations  to  the  cava 
lier  ;  and  as  little  did  the  Scotch-Irish,  who  were  ever  most  de 
voted  to  freedom  in  church  and  state,  and  whose  course  before  and 
during  the  Revolution  was  one  continued  blaze  of  glory,  put  forth 
any  title  of  descent  from  such  an  ancestry ;  though  coming,  of 
course,  from  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  stock.  Sir,  I  cannot  but  regret 
that  to  this  hour  the  class  and  character  of  the  mass  of  our  colonial 
population  is  a  sealed  book  in  our  history.  I  fear  that  no  record 
presents  a  true  state  of  our  white  population  as  late  as  thirty  years 
anterior  to  the  Revolution.  Writers  on  statistics  sometimes  infer 
the  amount  of  the  population  of  a  country  and  its  extent  of  business 
from  the  number  of  law-suits  in  a  successive  series  of  years.  If 
this  test  were  applied,  the  result  would  show  an  amount  of 
white  population  in  certain  counties  greater  than  can  now  be 
readily  believed.  In  the  year  1770,  the  docket  of  the  cases  in 
which  a  single  lawyer  was  engaged  in  what  was  then  almost  a 


THE  CHARACTER   OF  THE  EMIGRANTS.  41 

frontier  county,  who  practiced  in  several  other  counties  also,  filled 
fifty  half  foolscap  pages  written  on  one  side.*  Thus  we  see  what  a 
large  white  population  existed  in  the  interior  counties,  and  which, 
being  engaged  wholly  in  agriculture  and  entitled  to  vote,  elected  the 
men  who  composed  the  Virginia  Convention  of  '76.  How  that  Con 
vention  would  have  laughed  to  scorn  the  notion  that  they,  and  those 
who  chose  them,  owed  their  high  courage,  their  keen  sense  of 
wrong,  their  exalted  love  of  liberty  in  church  and  state,  to  a  set  of 
vagrants  and  office-bearers  who  never  drew  a  sword  but  in  defence 
of  a  tyrant  king,  and  whose  highest  ambition  only  sought  the  petty 
honors  which  a  tyrant  deemed  high  enough  for  his  tools  in  a  dis 
tant  Colony  !  What  would  BENJAMIN  HARRISON  have  said  to  such 
a  dogma ;  he,  who,  if  not  lineally  descended,  as  was  sometime  be 
lieved,  from  his  namesake  in  the  High  Court  of  Justice  which  con 
demned  the  "martyr  of  blessed  memory"  to  the  block,  was  of  his 
race,  and  whose  son  in  the  fullness  of  time  wras  to  preside  in  that 
confederate  empire,  the  corner-stone  of  the  greatest  State  of  which 
he  was  about  to  lay  ?t  What  would  JOHN  TYLER  have  said,  who 
was  related  to,  if  not  directly  descended  from,  the  greatest  rebel  in 
English  history,  after  whom  he  had  named  a  son;  whose  maternal 
ancestor  was  a  Huguenot,  and  who,  though  not  a  member  of  the 
Convention,  attended  its  debates,  and  was  among  the  first  to  take 
up  arms  in  his  country's  cause ;  who  was  in  a  few  months  to  begin 
a  civil  career,  which  extended  through  more  than  the  third  of  a 
century;  whose  great  and  unapproachable  honor  it  was  that  he  pro 
posed  in  the  House  of  Delegates  the  resolution  which  convoked  the 
meeting  at  Annapolis  which  ultimately  resulted  in  the  call  of  the 
General  Convention  which  formed  the  federal  constitution ;  and 
whose  son  of  the  same  name,  who  is  now  present  as  the  Rector  of 
this  college,  lending  the  influence  of  his  name  and  character  to  the 
promotion  of  the  literature  of  his  native  State,  was  also  to  preside 
in  that  federal  government  which  the  resolution  of  the  father  may 

*  Paul  Carrington's  docket  of  the  cases  in  which  he  was  employed  in  Cum 
berland  county  court.  The  original  is  in  my  possession. 

|  It  is  a  singular  fact  that,  although  the  Harrisons  are  not  lineally  descended 
from  Major  General  Harrison  of  the  Parliamentary  army  on  the  paternal  side, 
those  of  Brandon  at  least  are  descended  from  him  on  the  mother's  side  through 
the  Willings.  Harrison  is  stated  by  the  editor  of  Pepys  to  have  been  the  son 
of  a  butcher,  and  Sir  Walter  Scott  harps  upon  the  fact  in  Woodstock. 


42  THE  HUGUENOT  AND  THE  SCOTCH. 

be  said,  in  a  certain  sense,  to  have  called  into  existence  ?  *  What 
would  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  have  said,  who,  though  a  member  of 
the  Convention,  was  unable  to  quit  his  post  in  Congress ;  who 
drafted  the  preamble  to  the  constitution  which  the  Convention  was 
about  to  adopt ;  who  was  the  author  of  that  admirable  paper  in 
which  the  true  connexion  of  the  Colonies  with  the  mother  country 
was  first  clearly  defined ;  who  had  recently  written  the  answer  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses  to  the  propositions  of  Lord  North  ;  who  was 
ever  foremost  in  the  contest  at  home,  and  was  to  draw  the  declara 
tion  of  independence  by  the  Congress ;  and  who  was  to  preside 
with  unparalleled  honor,  not  in  the  person  of  his  son,  but  in  his 
proper  person,  in  the  government  of  the  Union  ?  He  has  indeed 
spoken  for,  himself;  for  when,  in  the  graceful  sketch  of  his  life 
from  his  own  pen,  he  alludes  to  his  father  who  was  a  plain  planter, 
he  speaks  of  him  with  a  just  pride  as  of  a  man  who  had  done  a 
good  deed — who  had  helped  to  make  the  first  regular  map  of  Vir 
ginia  ;  but  when  he  touches  on  the  maternal  side  of  his  house, 
which  would  have  led  him  into  the  mists  of  an  uncertain  gene 
alogy,  he  settles  the  matter  with  a  dash  of  his  pen.  What  would 
THOMAS  LEWIS  have  said,  who  had  not  only  a  sprinkling  of  Mile 
sian  blood  in  his  veins — for  he  was  born  in  Ireland — but  could  also 
claim  the  kindred  blood  of  the  Huguenot  and  the  Covenanter ; 
whose  father,  the  pioneer  of  West  Augusta,  slew  the  Irish  lord  ; 

Whose  hrnfhp.C-HiTAnTjgg  |ia^l    or]primply    fflllm  tlTS   JifclT    luforg,  flj 

Point  Pleasant;  whose  brother  WILLIAM  had  distinguished  himself 
in  the  Indian  wars,  and  was  an  officer  during  the  revolution ;  whose 
brother  ANDREW  had  not  only  reaped  the  highest  honors  in  the 
Indian  wars,  and  was  the  victor  at  Point  Pleasant,  and  was  to  drive 
a  few  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention  the  recreant 
Dunmore  from  the  waters  of  Virginia,  but  who  was,  with  the  single 
exception  of  Washington,  the  first  military  man  in  the  Colony,  as 
he  was  undoubtedly  among  the  first  men  in  peace  and  in  war  of  the 
era  in  which  he  lived,  and  who  was  to  seal  his  devotion  to  his 

*  I  have  alluded  in  the  text  to  the  fact,  that  John  Tyler  called  a  son  after 
Wat  Tyler.  On  one  occasion  when  Patrick  Henry  visited  Mr.  Tyler,  between 
whom  and  Henry  there  existed  a  long  and  intimate  friendship,  terminated  only 
by  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  saw  the  infant  on  the  lap  of  his  mother,  and  asked 
his  name.  "He  is  called,  Col.  Henry,  after  the  two  greatest  rebels  in  English 
history. "  "Pray,  madam,  who  were  they  ?"  "  Wat  Tyler  and  Patrick  Henry." 
The  name  of  the  boy  was  Walter  Henry  Tyler.  I  learned  this  incident  from 
Ex-President  Tyler. 


HENRY  TAZEWELL,   PATRICK   HENRY.          43 

adopted  country  by  death  from  disease  contracted  in  the  public  ser 
vice  ere  he  reached  his  own  fireside ;  and  who,  embarking  in  civil 
life,  had  voted  for  the  resolutions  of  Henry  against  the  stamp  act, 
and  for  those  embodying  the  militia?  What,  I  say,  would  THOMAS 
LEWIS  have  said,  that  sterling  patriot,  whose  single  vote  carried 
successfully  through  the  House  of  Burgesses  the  fifth  and  fiercest 
resolution  of  Henry  against  the  stamp  act  ?  What  would  HENRY 
TAZEWELL  have  said,  whose  paternal  ancestor,  as  if,  like  Langoi- 
ran,  the  bosom  friend  of  Colligny,  anticipating  the  result  of  that 
struggle  between  fanaticism  and  good  faith  which  was  raging  in  the 
breast  of  Louis  the  fourteenth,  and  which  impelled  him  to  revoke 
the  edict  of  Nantes,  had  quitted  the  vine-clad  vallies  of  his  beloved 
France,  and  had  sought  the  shores  of  Britain  ?  What  would  PA 
TRICK  HENRY  himself  have  said,  who  was  the  author  of  the  resolu 
tions  against  the  stamp  act  and  of  the  resolutions  for  putting  the  Col 
ony  in  a  state  of  defence ;  who  had  headed  the  first  military  move 
ment  in  the  Colony,  and  whose  father  was  a  Scotchman  of  a  com 
paratively  recent  importation  ?  Those  pure  and  devoted  patriots 
knew  full  well  that  their  love  of  liberty,  their  hatred  of  wrong, 
their  unflinching  courage,  came  from  another  quarter.  Whatever 
merits  their  fathers,  or  their  fathers'  fathers  possessed,  were  all 


"J     "  D  ./  • 

children  not  only  retained  their  inheritance  but  increased  it ;  thus 
from  generation  to  generation  preparing  insensibly  but  surely  for 
the  great  contest  in  which  they  were  now  engaged.  And  let  me 
say  to  you,  sir,  how  much  more  noble  it  is  as  well  as  more  true, 
how  much  more  congenial  to  the  pride  and  honor  of  the  Virginian, 
to  reflect  that  the  virtues  of  his  fathers  are  to  be  traced,  not  to  a 
race  of  men  whose  whole  career  was  one  long  and  bitter  and  bloody 
protest  against  civil  and  religious  freedom,  but  to  the  great  Anglo- 
Saxon  family,  whose  swords  were  never  drawn  in  vain,  and  before 
whom  the  hosts  of  the  cavalier  in  the  old  world  were  driven  as 
chaff  before  the  wind?  Such  were  the  men  who  in  the  council  and 
in  the  field  achieved  the  revolution.* 

*  This  topic  would  require  a  speech  in  itself  to  be  fully  treated,  and  I  can 
only  say  here,  that  so  ar  from  the  cavalier  influence  bringing  about  the  Revo- 


44        PENDLETON — THE   REPRESENTATIVE   OF   THE   CAVALIER. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  folly  and  falsehood  of  that  philosophy 
which  sought  to  draw  upon  the  cavalier  for  those  qualities  which 
ennobled  our  fathers.  Still  there  was  in  the  Colony  a  distinct  cava 
lier  class,  not  wholly  contemptible  in  numbers,  but  more  potent  in 
influence,  which  partook  of  the  character  that  marked  the  foreign 
original,  and  which  in  its  modes  of  life  imitated  English  manners,  prac 
tised  English  sports,  cherished  English  prejudices,  and  were  proud 
of  the  glory  of  England,  not  in  its  loftiest  development,  but  as  cast 
ing  its  brightness,  of  all  others  in  the  Colony,  on  itself.  But  even 
to  this  class  some  who  could  trace  a  legitimate  descent  from  those 
who  came  over  after  the  discomfiture  and  death  of  Charles,  did  not 
belong.  These  descendants  differed  materially  from  their  ances 
tors.  The  architects  of  their  own  fortune,  reared  in  that  noblest  of 
all  schools,  the  school  of  poverty,  they  had  mingled  freely  with  the 
people  and  shared  their  pursuits ;  and  thus  not  only  lost  their  he 
reditary  prejudices  but  adopted  popular  views,  and  became  the  most 
strenuous  supporters  of  the  very  principles  from  which  their  ances 
tors  would  have  recoiled.  It  was  the  spirit  of  Anglo-Saxon  liberty, 
inculcated  for  generations  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
Colony  in  their  race,  that  made  the  na.mes  of  Washington,  George 
Mason  and  the  Lees  a  bulwark  in  the  cause  of  independence.  But 
neither  of  these  was  the  representative  of  the  party  to  which  by 
the  accident  of  birth  he  belonged.  That  office,  since  the  departure 

^h&£^^M^P*^L  j^k^fLl^.  jf_Vfc-..___  _p^qfco^|HtfBt->    N  .-.'•.     i  „  "  ..    1*1-.  if 

\      j     Wa          1  .  lilt  .tl 


by 'j*uh'4c:  ,-was  infinitely  superior  to  many  of  its  prejv,  _es,  but 

lution,  the  Revolution  was  brought  about  in  spite  of  the  cavalier.  The  three 
greatest  test  measures  of  that  epoch  were  the  resolutions  of  Henry  in  1765 
against  the  stamp  act,  the  resolutions  of  the  same  individual  in  the  Convention 
of  March,  1775,  for  putting  the  Colony  into  military  array,  and  the  resolution 
instructing  the  delegates  in  Congress  to  propose  independence.  Now  of  all 
these  measures  the  cavalier  party,  as  a  party,  was  the  stoutest  opponent.  It  is 
true,  that  on  the  last  mentioned  resolution  the  vote  in  the  journal  is  set  down 
as  unanimous;  but  we  know  from  a  letter  of  George  Mason  to  R.  H.  Lee,  dated 
May  18,  1776,  that  there  was  a  considerable  minority,  and  we  know  from  other 
sources  who  composed  that  minority.  This  minority,  when  it  was  plain  that 
the  members  composing  it  must  either  be  drummed  into  independence,  or 
drummed  out  of  the  country,  finally  came  in.  It  would  be  invidious  to  single 
out  by  name  the  cavaliers  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  were  placed 
under  heavy  bonds,  were  confined  to  the  forks  of  rivers,  or  were  escorted  under 
guard  into  the  interior.  Unfortunately,  so  far  as  the  convenience  of  reference 
is  concerned,  the  ayes  and  noes  were  never  taken  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  Or 
in  the  Conventions,  and  we  are  compelled  to  hunt  up  the  votes  of  individuals 
elsewhere.  One  thing  is  clear  to  my  mind,  that  the  three  great  measures  men 
tioned  above  were  carried  by  the  western  vote,  that  is,  by  the  vote  of  the  mem 
bers  living  north  and  west  of  Richmond,  as  were  the  leading  measures  of  re 
form  some  years  later. 


EDMUND  PENDLETON.  47 

He  had  that  intuitive  love  of  prescription  which  was  a  marked  trait 
in  the  character  of  almost  all  the  eminent  lawyers  to  whose  exer 
tions  the  liberties  of  England  were  indebted  for  their  existence. 
The  strongest  argument  that  could  be  urged  in  favor  of  a  particular 
measure  in  his  view  was  that  it  had  formed  for  a  century  a  part  of 
the  general  mind.  The  same  sentiment,  which  impelled  our  Eng 
lish  ancestors  to  declare  against  a  change  of  the  laws  of  England, 
always  governed  him.  And  in  ordinary  legislation  it  is  unquestion 
ably  the  true  policy  of  a  Commonwealth.  He  well  knew  that  in  a 
thinly  settled  country,  without  a  press  and  without  a  post,  intelli 
gence  was  slowly  diffused,  and  that  repeated  changes  which  made 
the  law  either  vague  or  uncertain,  whatever  might  be  the  outward 
form  of  the  government,  established  a  wretched  slavery  by  the  fire 
sides  of  the  people ;  and  in  this  respect  we  may  fairly  take  a  lesson 
from  his  experience.  This  principle  swayed  his  conduct  not  only 
in  the  Colony  but  in  the  Commonwealth.  But,  if  he  were  distrust 
ful  of  ordinary  changes,  he  was  still  more  opposed  to  civil  war;  and 
from  revolution  he  absolutely  recoiled.  Hence  in  regard  of  the 
great  legislative  measures  which  paved  the  way  for  the  Revolution, 
he  was  invariably  found  in  the  negative.  He  opposed  Henry's 
resolutions  against  the  stamp  act.  He  opposed,  as  has  just  been 
said,  the  scheme  of  weakening  the  influence  of  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses  by  rendering  the  office  of  Treasurer  incompati 
ble  with  that  of  Speaker, — a  measure  which  the  liberal  party  main 
tained  on  the  ground  not  only  of  diminishing  the  patronage  of  the 
Speaker,  who,  though  elected  by  the  Burgesses,  was  approved  by 
the  Governor,  but  of  keeping  the  Treasurer  more  within  the  reach 
of  the  House.  He  opposed,  in  the  Convention  of  March,  1775,  the 
resolutions  of  Henry  for  organizing  the  militia,  preferring  to  consult 
the  chapter  of  accidents  yet  longer  before  he  upheld  an  unequivocal 
act  of  opposition  to  the  royal  authority.  But  there  was  a  manliness 
about  him  which  made  him  scorn  to  sneak  or  skulk  in  a  time  of 
trial.  Cautious  and  even  skittish  in  the  early  stages  of  a  great 
measure,  when  it  was  adopted,  he  acquiesced  in  the  decision.  His 
habits  of  mind  insensibly  attached  him  to  the  new  state  of  things ; 
and  he  was  most  efficient  in  carrying  out  the  details  of  a  policy 
which  he  had  strenuously  opposed  in  debate.  Hence,  as  his  inte 
grity  was  beyond  suspicion,  and,  as  his  abilities  were  held  in  the 
highest  repute,  he  was  called  on,  not  by  one  party  but  by  both  par- 


48  EDMUND  PENDLETON. 

ties,  to  fill  all  the  great  posts  of  the  day,  the  duties  of  which  he 
performed  with  masterly  skill.  He  was  one  of  the  committee 
which  in  1764  prepared  the  memorials  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  to  the  king.*  He  was  appointed  in 
1773  one  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence.  He  was  appointed 
by  the  Convention  in  1774  one  of  the  delegates  to  Congress,  and 
was  rechosen  in  1775,  when  from  indisposition  he  declined  the  ap 
pointment.  He  was  a  member  of  all  the  Conventions,  having  been 
called  to  preside  in  that  of  December,  1775,  and  in  that  of  May, 
1776,  of  which  we  are  now  treating,  and  was  at  the  head  of  leading 
committees  until  he  was  elected  to  the  chair.  But  nothing  could 
show  more  clearly  the  general  confidence  reposed  in  him  than  his 
unanimous  election  by  the  Convention  of  July,  1775,  as  the  head 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety.  That  body  consisted  of  eleven  mem 
bers,  was,  in  the  interval  of  the  sessions  of  the  Conventions,  the 
executive  of  the  Colony,  and  wras  always  in  session.  Its  duties 
were  of  the  most  delicate,  of  the  most  perplexing,  and  of  the  most 
responsible  kind.  There  was  no  precise  rule  for  its  guidance.  The 
ordinance  which  created  it,  endowed  it  with  enormous  powers  posi 
tive  and  discretionary.!  Its  difficulties  were  enhanced  by  the  fact 
that  the  Colony  was  in  a  state  of  war.  The  utmost  prudence,  en 
ergy  and  wisdom  were  required  in  its  head ;  and  these  qualities 
Pendleton  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree.  If  the  highest  order  of 
executive  genius  be  not  accorded  him,  he  was  unsurpassed  in  the 
readiness  with  which,  at  a  time  of  great  peril,  he  arrayed  his 
means,  and  adopted  a  line  of  policy  proper  for  the  occasion.  He 
was  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  finances  of  the  Colony,  and, 
as  he  wras  skilled  in  figures,  and  had  served  an  apprenticeship  of 
four  and  twenty  years  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  everything  ap 
pertaining  to  its  population  and  its  resources  was  on  the  tip  of  his 
tongue.  He  had  also  a  knowledge  of  the  practical  arts,  which  be 
came  important,  as,  in  consequence  of  the  non-importation  acts. 
there  was  neither  salt,  nor  gunpowder,  nor  arms,  nor  clothing  in 
the  Colony;  and  it  was  one  of  the  responsible  duties  of  the  com 
mittee  to  examine  the  various  proposals  for  the  manufacture  of 

*  He  did  not  draw  either  of  them.  The  memorial  to  the  House  was  written 
by  Wythe  ;  the  memorials  to  the  kins:  and  to  the  lords  by  R.  H  Lee.  Life  of 
Lee,  Vol.  I,  29. 

f  See  the  ordinance,  page  44  of  the  Journal  of  the  Convention,  July,  1775. 
The  wages  of  a  member  of  the  committee  was  fifteen  shillings  per  diem. 


THE   COMMITTEE   OF   SAFETY   AND   COLONEL   HENRY.  49 

those  articles,  and  to  decide  upon  them.  He  was  not  only  versed, 
as  heretofore  stated,  in  our  own  acts  of  assembly  and  in  the  British 
statutes,  but  in  the  law  of  admiralty  and  in  the  laws  of  nations; 
and  it  is  most  pleasing  to  observe  the  courtesy  which  he  was  ready 
to  extend  to  our  enemies  when  justified  by  the  public  law.  The 
army  and  navy  were  under  the  control  of  the  committee;  and  it  not 
unfrequently  happened  that  grave  questions  of  prize  came  up  for 
adjudication.  It  was  also  charged  with  the  domestic  and  foreign 
correspondence  of  the  Colony.  Such  was  the  sphere  of  the  com 
mittee  of  which  Pendleton  was  the  head  from  its  organization  until 
it  was  superseded  by  the  government  established  by  the  constitu 
tion  ;  a  position  which  he  might  well  have  declined,  and  which  no 
man,  who  was  not  ready  to  lay  down  his  life  in  his  country's  cause, 
would  have  dared  to  assume.  In  that  interval  his  conduct  deserved 
and  received  the  warmest  approbation  of  his  country. 

One  single  act  of  the  committee  excited  in  some  minds  a  preju 
dice  against  its  head;  and  justice  to  the  memory  of  Pendleton  de 
mands  a  passing  allusion  to  it.  I  allude  to  the  difficulty  that  oc 
curred  between  the  Committee  of  Safety  and  Col.  Henry.  It  cre 
ated  some  excitement,  and,  indeed,  exasperation  at  the  time,  and 
made  an  impression  upon  the  Convention  ;  for  on  the  ensuing  elec 
tion  of  the  members  of  the  committee  the  name  of  Pendleton,  hith 
erto  easily  the  first,  fell  to  the  fifth  place.*  Wirt,  and  our  histori 
ans  generally,  are  inclined  to  impute,  directly  or  indirectly,  unwor 
thy  motives  to  Pendleton ;  and  a  cloud,  which  was  dispelled  almost 
as  soon  as  it  Avas  formed,  has  been  made  to  darken  a  reputation 
which  it  ought  to  be  the  pride  of  posterity  to  illustrate  and  to  dwell 
upon  with  unmingled  delight.  That  Edmund  Pendleton  and  Patrick 
Henry  were  enemies,  I  do  not  affirm  ;  but  that  they  were  at  the 
head  of  their  respective  parties  at  a  time  when  their  issues  involved 
life  and  death,  is  known  to  all.  The  true  nature  of  those  parties 
will  be  traced  elsewhere.  Suffice  it  for  the  present  to  say,  that 
Pendleton  represented  the  great  conservative  interest  of  the  Colo 
ny,  and  that  Henry  personified  the  great  body  of  the  people  who,  in 
all  countries  and  in  all  ages,  are  opposed  to  the  few  who  wield  the 
influence  of  government  for  their  own  advantage.  Their  opposition 
began  as  early  as  1765,  and  was  renewed  at  intervals  until  Henry 
was  elected  Governor  and  Pendleton,  after  passing  a  session  or  two 
*  Journal  Convention,  Dec.  1775,  page  68. 

4 


50  THE  COMMITTEE   OF   SAFETY   AND   COLONEL   HENRY. 

in  the  House  of  Delegates,  was  called  to  the  bench.  To  all  who  are 
familiar  with  the  character  of  Pendleton,  it  must  be  obvious  that 
political  animosity  could  never  have  impelled  him  to  seek  the  de 
struction  of  an  opponent.  Of  all  his  favorite  schemes  of  policy  be 
fore  the  Revolution,  and  of  all  his  plans  discussed  in  the  House  of 
Delegates  under  the  new  constitution,  the  most  radical,  the  most 
skillful,  the  most  uncompromising  foe  was  Thomas  Jefferson  ;  yet 
with  Thomas  Jefferson  he  lived  in  unbroken  and  ardent  friendship 
for  a  third  of  a  century,  and  it  is  from  the  pen  of  Jefferson  that  pos 
terity  will  receive  the  most  eloquent  tribute  to  the  integrity,  moral 
worth,  and  patriotism  of  Pendleton.  Nor  could  the  success  of  Henry 
interfere  in  any  respect  with  the  ambition  of  Pendleton.  The  highest 
honors  of  the  Colony  were  always  within  his  reach ;  and  in  passing 
from  the  Colony  to  the  Commonwealth  he  not  only  did  not  lose  his 
ground,  but  was  placed  in  a  loftier  position  before  the  country.  He 
was,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  the  supreme  executive. 
The  success  of  the  arms  of  the  Colony  was  the  success  of  his  own 
policy.  To  blast  the  fame,  or  to  curb  the  spirit  of  an  officer  under 
his  control,  was  virtually  to  prevent  the  increase  of  his  own  re 
nown  and  to  dim  the  glory  of  his  own  administration.  The  time 
when  the  difficulty  occurred  between  them  also  demands  attention. 
On  the  seventh  of  November,  1775,  Dunmore  issued  a  proclama 
tion  from  the  harbor  of  Norfolk  placing  the  country  under  martial 
law,  summoning  all  persons  capable  of  bearing  arms  to  his  standard 
on  the  penalty  of  being  denounced  traitors,  and  inviting  all  servants 
bond  and  free  to  join  him.  He  had  subjected  to  his  authority 
through  hope  or  fear  nearly  the  whole  population  in  the  vicinity  of 
Norfolk.  As  he  had  a  naval  force  sufficient  to  control  the  waters 
of  the  Colony,  the  most  fearful  results  were  justly  anticipated. 
Slaves  not  only  fled  to  his  standard  in  great  numbers,  but  were  en 
rolled  in  the  ranks,  and  were  stimulated  to  wage  war  against  their 
masters.  The  few  patriots  in  the  Norfolk  district,  who  cherished  a 
love  of  their  country,  were  overawed,  and,  in  the  event  of  resist 
ance,  would  have  been  executed  summarily  on  the  spot.  To  give 
a  prompt  and  decided  check  to  a  sway  which  threatened  such  dire 
ful  results,  was  a  measure  almost  of  life  and  death  to  the  people. 
To  repel  the  disciplined  forces  of  Dunmore  by  a  band  of  raw  re 
cruits  might  not  be  impossible  ;  but,  to  be  possible,  the  troops  must 
be  led  to  the  scene  of  action  by  a  soldier  who  possessed  not  only 


THE   COMMITTEE   OF   SAFETY   AND   COLONEL   HENRY.  51 

personal  bravery  but  the  highest  military  skill,  and  who  was  accus 
tomed  to  deal  with  a  wary  foe.  Nor  should  it  be  concealed  that 
leading  men  in  the  tide-water  counties  were  in  the  counsels  of  the 
enemy.  Several  prominent  persons  had  been  detected  in  their 
communications  with  Dunmore,  had  been  arrested,  and  had  been 
dispatched  into  the  interior.  A  regiment  could  hardly  receive  its 
marching  orders  before  the  fact  would  be  conveyed  to  Dunmore 
by  his  secret  emissaries.  Every  facility  was  thus  offered  to  the 
enemy  for  cutting  off  a  detachment  by  surprize.  Moreover,  defeat 
was  to  be  dreaded  by  the  Committee  of  Safety  not  only  in  its  im 
mediate  result  as  involving  the  fate  of  the  army,  but  from  its  effects 
on  the  spirits  of  the  people.  To  lead  a  force  at  that  critical  junc 
ture,  Col.  Woodford,  Henry's  second  in  command,  was  highly 
qualified.  He  had  been  engaged  in  the  Indian  wars,  and  was  a 
thorough  master  of  the  discipline  necessary  for  an  army  about  to 
pass  through  an  enemy's  country.  He  was  accordingly  detached 
from  the  command  of  Col.  Henry  by  the  orders  of  the  committee, 
and  dispatched  with  his  regiment  to  the  seat  of  war.  His  triumph 
ant  success  justified  the  foresight  of  the  committee.  A  victory 
achieved  by  a  handful  of  raw  militia,  at  the  expense  of  one  hun 
dred  killed  and  wounded  of  the  enemy,  two-thirds  of  whom  were 
troops  of  the  line,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  man  on  our  side,  pro 
claims  the  capacity  of  the  officer  who  won  it.  We  may  readily 
imagine  with  what  emotions  Pendleton,  who  was  president  of  the 
Convention  as  well  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  com 
municated  to  the  former  body  the  third  day  after  the  battle  the  dis 
patch  of  Woodford  detailing  the  victory  at  the  Great  Bridge,  and 
announced  to  Woodford  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Convention  in 
honor  of  the  victor.  But  to  return  to  Col.  Henry.  He  was  brave 
and  full  of  spirit,  and  was  eager  to  occupy  the  post  of  danger ;  but 
he  was  entirely  destitute  of  military  experience.  He  had  probably 
never  seen  a  reginTent  of  regular  soldiers  even  on  the  parade 
ground,  and  was  wholly  unacquainted  with,  if  not  averse  from,  that 
discipline  which  made  them  formidable.  Nor  was  there  time  for 
preparation.  The  danger  was  instant  and  imminent.  Such  were 
the  circumstances  which  induced  the  Committee  of  Safety  to  assign  a 
separate  command  to  Woodford,  and  to  order  him  to  report  directly  to 
itself.  The  same  danger  which  rendered  a  separate  command  ne 
cessary,  rendered  it  necessary  that  all  communications  from  the 


52  THE  COMMITTEE   OF  SAFETY  AND   COLONEL  HENRY. 

officer  should  be  promptly  received  and  attended  to  by  the  commit 
tee  which  was  always  in  session.  Nor  was  the  position  of  Col. 
Henry  in  this  city  void  of  danger.  Dunmore,  who  held  undisputed 
sway  over  our  waters  and  was  burning  with  revenge,  might  at  any 
moment  approach  it  from  the  York  or  the  James,  and  seize  upon 
those  whom  he  might  deem  the  ring-leaders  in  the  rebellion.  That 
the  committee  had  a  right  to  assign  a  separate  command  to  Wood- 
ford  none  who  will  read  the  ordinance  of  its  creation,  and  the  com 
mission  of  Col.  Henry  in  which  this  right  is  distinctly  stated,*  will 
deny ;  and  the  question  for  the  decision  of  posterity  is,  whether  the 
emergency  of  the  times  did  not  justify  its  exercise. 

But,  let  the  question  be  decided  as  it  may,  the  result  cannot  im 
peach  the  integrity  or  the  honor  of  Pendleton  alone.  He  was  one 
of  the  eleven  who  composed  the  committee.  On  a  question  touch 
ing  the  true  meaning  of  an  act  of  assembly  or  the  law  of  prize,  the 
opinion  of  Pendleton  would  have  had  its  proper  weight  with  the 
body ;  but,  when  the  safety  of  the  State  or  the  honor  of  a  soldier 
and  a  gentleman  was  involved,  would  George  Mason,  who  had  re 
cently  paid  to  Henry  the  most  splendid  compliment  which  one 
man  of  genius  ever  paid  to  another!;  would  John  Page,  who  alone 
of  all  the  council  of  Dunmore  refused  to  assent  to  the  proclamation 
denouncing  Henry ;  would  Richard  Bland,  Thomas  Ludwell  Lee. 
Paul  Carrington,  Dudley  Digges,  William  Cabell,  Carter  Braxton 
James  Mercer,  and  John  Tabb,  have  been  guided  at  such  a  delicate 
crisis  by  feelings  of  envy  towards  a  patriot,  who,  having  distin 
guished  himself  in  the  public  councils,  sought  to  win  honor  in  ano 
ther  and  more  dangerous  field  ?  On  the  contrary,  if  we  are  dis 
posed  to  attribute  the  conduct  of  Pendleton  and  his  associates  to  in 
dividual  jealousy,  and  to  a  desire  to  ruin  the  fortunes  of  a  dreaded 
rival,  would  they  not  have  adopted  an  opposite  course,  and  have 
dispatched  Henry,  unacquainted  as  he  was  with  war,  through  a 
hostile  population  to  the  sea-board,  where  tbgl^ri.tish  forces,  which 
had  been  recruited  some  days  before  by  a  r^nforcement  of  regular 
troops  from  St.  Augustine,  were  ready  to  receive  him  ?  t 

*  For  commission  see  Journal  Convention,  July,  1775,  page  25,  and  for  ordi 
nance  page  44. 

f  George  Mason  to  Col.  Cockburn,  Va.  Historical  Register,  Vol.  IN,  28. 

J  I  have  heard  at  second-hand  from  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety 
who  was  present  at  the  time  and  bore  his  share  of  the  responsibility  of  the 
measure,  that  the  real  ground  of  their  action  was  the  want  of  discipline  in  the 


THE  CAREER   OF  PENDLETON.  53 

If  I  may  seem  to  have  dwelt  too  long,  Mr.  President,  on  this  in 
cident  in  the  life  of  Pendleton,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  in  the 
estimation,  perhaps,  of  a  large  majority  of  readers,  it  has  cast  on 
the  fair  fame  of  an  illustrious  man  a  stigma  which,  I  hope,  I  have 
shown  to  be  wholly  unmerited  ;  and  that  to  preserve  unstained  the 
memory  of  an  eminent  citizen  is  a  duty  enjoined  by  a  proper  re 
spect  for  the  truth  of  history  as  well  as  by  the  more  generous  dic 
tates  of  patriotism  and  affection. 

Distinguished  as  was  this  remarkable  man  as  a  lawyer,  as  a  de 
bater  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  as  the  presiding  officer  of  a  delib 
erative  assembly,  and  as  the  virtual  executive  of  Virginia  during 
the  perilous  period  in  which  she  was  passing  from  the  Colony  to 
the  Commonwealth,  he  may  be  regarded  as  yet  only  in  the  begin 
ning  of  his  wonderful  career.  He  was  now  in  his  fifty-fifth  year,  and 
as  he  had  been  engaged  since  his  fourteenth,  either  in  the  wasting 
drudgery  of  a  clerk's  office  under  the  old  regime,  in  the  fatigues 
and  privations  of  an  extensive  practice  in  the  county  courts  and  at 
the  bar  of  the  General  Court,  and  in  the  most  responsible  trusts 
ever  committed  to  a  representative,  in  all  of  which  he  performed 
his  part  with  the  strictest  fidelity  and  honor,  and  with  the  applause 
of  his  country,  and  in  the  possession  of  an  ample  fortune,  he  might 
now  have  sought  retirement  with  a  becoming  grace,  and,  closing  his 
career  with  the  extinct  dynasty,  might  have  left  to  the  new  gene 
ration  the  direction  of  affairs  ;  and,  doubtless,  had  he  consulted  his 
own  inclinations,  he  would  have  retired  upon  his  well-earned  fame 

regiment  under  the  command  of  Col.  Henry.  None  doubted  his  courage  or  his 
alacrity  to  hasten  to  the  field  ;  but  it  was  plain  that  he  did  not  seem  to  be  con 
scious  of  the  importance  of  strict  discipline  in  an  army,  but  regarded  his  sol 
diers  as  so  many  gentlemen  who  had  met  to  defend  their  country,  and  exacted 
from  them  little  more  than  the  courtesy  that  was  proper  among  equals.  To 
have  marched  to  the  sea-board  at  that  time  with  a  regiment  of  such  men, 
would  have  been  to  ensure  their  destruction ;  and  it  was  a  thorough  conviction 
of  this  truth  that  prompted  the  decision  of  the  committee.  It  was  the  general 
belief  of  the  time  that  Woodford's  men,  had  he  been  defeated,  would  have  been 
given  over  for  indiscriminate  massacre  by  the  black  banditti  which  Dunmore 
had  listed  and  armed. 

My  authority  is  the  late  Col.  Clement  Carrington  of  Charlotte,  son  of  Judge 
Paul  Carrington,  sen.  Col.  C.  was  at  the  battle  of  Eutaw  where  he  was  dan 
gerously  wounded,  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates  in  the  interval  be 
tween  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  was 
present  at  the  Convention  of  1788,  of  which  his  father  and  elder  brother  were 
members,  knew  personally  many  of  the  eminent  men  of  the  times,  and  in  his 
old  age,  his  memory  undimmed,  delighted  to  recall  the  scenes  in  which  he  was 
a  close  and  critical  observer.  I  shall  hereafter  refer  to  his  testimony,  commit 
ted  to  writing  at  the  time,  under  the  head  of  Carrington  Memoranda. 


54  THE   CAREER   OF   PENDLETON. 

and  fortune,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  honorable  re 
pose.  But  Pendleton  had  other  views  of  public  duty.  He  was  yet 
to  render  most  important  service  to  his  country  and  to  win  his  most 
durable,  if  not  his  most  brilliant,  titles  to  the  public  regard.  But 
of  his  subsequent  course  in  the  House  of  Delegates,  in  which  he 
filled  the  chair  of  Speaker,  mingling,  however,  in  debate  with  abil 
ity  confessedly  unrivalled,*  and  fighting  the  battles  of  a  party  that 
was  insensibly  dwindling  away  with  a  vigor  most  formidable  to  his 
opponents  ;  as  a  re  visor  of  the  laws  which  still  bear  the  impress  of  his 
plastic  handt;  as  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1788,  in  which  he 
presided,  and  in  the  debates  of  which  he  freely  engaged ;  and  on 
the  bench  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  which  he  filled  for  yet  a 
quarter  of  a  century  the  highest  seat,  presiding  with  an  ease  and 
dignity  rarely  surpassed,  with  a  fullness  of  knowledge  and  a  readi 
ness  in  its  application,  that  received  the  unlimited  respect  of  the 
bar  as  it  inspired  the  universal  confidence  of  the  people,  with  an 
industry  that  quailed  not  even  beneath  the  weight  of  fourscore 
years,  and,  above  all,  with  a  purity  that,  even  in  the  most  deli 
cate  case  of  his  life — a  case  involving  issues  at  once  personal, 
religious  and  political — the  faintest  breath  of  censure  never  soiled, 
it  is  not  within  the  scope  of  my  present  design  to  speak  at  large. | 

Having  thus  paid  our  respects  to  the  president  of  the  Conven 
tion,  let  us  contemplate  some  of  those  eminent  men  who  brought 
their  eloquence,  their  learning,  their  experience  in  public  affairs, 
their  pure  and  honest  lives,  and  their  glowing  patriotism,  to  the 
support  of  their  country  in  the  hour  of  trial,  and  who  up  to  this 
period  had  usually  acted  with  the  party  of  which  Pendleton  was  \ 
the  representative.  Sir,  if  you  will  look  immediately  in  front  of 
the  chair,  a  little  to  the  left,  you  will  see  two  aged  men  sitting  side 
by  side,  one  of  whom  had  nominated  Pendleton  to  the  chair,  and 
both  of  whom  were  cordial  in  his  cause.  They  are  among  the  old 
est  members  of  the  body.  Even  Pendleton,  who  is  now  fifty-five, 
and  had  been  for  five  and  twenty  years  a  member  of  the  House  of 

*  "  Taken  all  in  all,  he  was  the  ablest  man  in  debate  I  have  ever  met  with." 
Jefferson's  Memoirs,  Vol.  I,  30. 

t  It  was  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Wickham,  that  the  part  performed  by  Pendleton 
in  the  revision  of  the  Laws  could  be  distinguished  by  its  superior  precision.  So 
says  Henry  Lee  in  hisreview  of  tta  works  of  Jefferson. 

J  Pendleton  died  on  the  28th  of  October,  1803.  As  it  is  my  intention  to  pre 
pare  at  the  request  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society  a  discourse  on  the  Con- 


THE  CAREER   OF  PENDLETON.  55 

Burgesses,  looks  young  beside  them.  What  a  reach  in  our  history 
do  the  lives  of  those  two  men  embrace  ?  They  had  seen  Robert 
Carter  of  Corotoman,  one  of  the  original  benefactors  of  this  col 
lege  and  one  of  its  visitors,  who  filled  the  chair  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  with  the  purse  of  the  Colony,  as  was  the  wont,  in  his 
hand,  and  had  presided  in  the  Council;  him,  who  from  his  acres 
which  he  counted  by  the  hundred  thousand,  and  from  his  slaves 
whom  he  counted  by  the  thousand,  was  called  "  King  Carter."* 
One  of  those  old  men  was  a  grandson  of  the  "  King,"  and  had  been 
dandled  on  his  knee.  The  age  of  either  of  those  men  added  to  the 
age  of  the  "  King,"  would  cover  the  whole  of  one  century  and  the 
third  of  another.  The  "King,"  as  a  boy  of  fourteen,  had  known 
Sir  William  Berkeley,  had  played  on  the  lawn  of  Greenspring,  and 
might  have  seen  the  aged  cavalier  when  in  search  of  health  he  em 
barked  for  England  to  re-visit  his  rural  home  no  more.t  They  had 
seen  Holloway,  the  contemporary  in  his  latter  years  of  Sir  John 
Randolph  who  has  left  us  in  his  Breviate  Book  a  capital  sketch  of 
his  character, t  who  for  fourteen  years  filled  the  chair  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses  and  also,  for  nearly  the  same  time,  held  the  purse  of 
the  Colony ;  a  soldier-lawyer — an  Erskine  by  way  of  anticipa- 

vention  of  1788,  I  shall  not,  as  a  general  thing,  trace  at  large  the  course  of 
those  members  of  the  present  Convention  such  as  Pendleton,  Wythe,  Henry, 
Madison  and  others,  who  were  also  members  of  the  Convention  of  1788,.  but 
will  in  the  main  confine  myself  to  that  period  of  their  lives  when  they  took 
their  seats  in  the  present  Convention. 

When  I  delivered  this  discourse,  I  was  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  a  por 
trait  of  Pendleton;  but  I  have  been  informed  since  that  there  is  one  at  the  resi 
dence  of  Hugh  N.  Pendleton,  Esq.  in  the  county  of  Jefferson.  I  have  also  seen 
since  a  portrait  of  the  Judge  by  Sully,  just  taken  from  a  miniature,  at  the  resi 
dence  in  Richmond  of  Jacquelin  P.  Taylor,  Esq.,  who  intends  to  present  it  to 
the  Virginia  Historical  Society.  This  portrait  probably  represents  him  as  he 
was  between  sixty-five  and  seventy-five,  and  hardly  justifies  the  glowing  de 
scriptions  of  his  person  which  have  come  down  to  us  ;  but  as  Pendleton  was 
unable  to  take  any  exercise  on  foot,  nor  at  all  except  in  his  carriage,  from  his 
fifty-seventh  year  to  the  day  of  his  death,  much  allowance  must  be  made  for 
his  locks  in  old  age.  He  is  represented  in  a  flowing  powdered  wig,  with  blue 
eyes,  with  a  sharp  face  probably  attenuated  by  age,  and  with  thin  compressed 
lips.  It  is  the  face  of  a  clear,  close  thinker,  rarely  pestered  by  the  exuberance 
of  his  imagination.  Lest  I  may  be  thought  to  have  spoken  too  warmly  of  his 
handsome  appearance  in  early  life,  I  refer  for  the  truth  of  the  existence  of  the 
tradition,  among  other?,  to  the  Hon.  William  C.  Rives. 

*  Robert  Carter  of  Corotoman  died  August  4,  1732,  aged  69.  He  owned 
800,000  acres  of  land,  and  1100  slaves.  There  is  a  portrait  of  him  at  Shirley. 
C.  (  ampbell's  Hist,  of  Va. 

f  Sir  William  Berkeley  died  in  London,  and  was  buried  at  Twickenham 
July  13,  1677. 

J  Sir  John's  sketch  of  Holloway  may  be  seen  in  the  Virginia  Historical 
Register,  Vol.  I,  119;  and  a  sketch  of  Sir  John  himself,  by  an  able  hand,  may 
be  seen  in  the  same  work,  Vol.  IV«  138, 


56  NORBORNE   BERKELEY. 

tion — and,  if  not  the  rival  of  the  modern  in  eloquence,  quite  his 
equal  in  the  mystic  cunning  of  the  law,  and  may  have  heard  him 
tell  in  his  peculiar  way  of  the  battles  which  he  had  fought  on  Irish 
ground,  before  he  reached  Virginia,  under  the  banners  of  good  King 
William.  They  remembered  the  arrival  of  the  ship  which  forty 
years  before  brought  over  Sir  John  Randolph  with  his  patent  of 
knighthood  in  his  pocket,  and  the  scandal  to  which  it  gave  rise.* 
They  had  known  Dinwiddie,  who,  having  detected  certain  frauds 
in  the  customs  of  Barbadoes,  had  been  transferred  to  Virginia  as  a 
fair  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  discriminating  powers,  and  they 
could  recall  the  sly  jests  that  were  current  on  the  occasion  of  his 
arrival  in  the  Colony.  They  had  seen  and  known  intimately  the 
gay  and  gallant  Fauquier,  who,  we  are  told,  was  the  most  accom 
plished  statesman  who  ever  filled  the  chair  of  Governor,  had  sat  at 
his  classic  board,  had  attended  his  brilliant  entertainments,  had  of 
ten  received  him  as  their  guest  and  played  with  him  his  favorite 
game  of  whist,  and  had  led  the  deliberations  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  during  his  administration.  But,  above  all,  they  would  have 
told  of  NORBORNE  BERKELEY,  whose  votive  statue  now  guards  your 
grounds,  of  his  dazzling  first  appearance  in  this  city  in  a  chariot — a 
present  from  the  king — drawn  by  six  milk-white  steeds,  and,  what 
was  quite  a  topic  of  interest  with  our  fathers,  of  the  stock  from 
which  those  steeds  were  sprung ;  of  his  graphic  descriptions  of  the 
scenes  in  the  House  of  Commons  when  the  sway  of  Sir  Robert 
Walpole  yielded  at  last  to  the  terrible  assaults  of  the  opposing  host, 
and  which  he  had  seen  in  his  early  manhood ;  of  the  eloquence  of 
Pitt  before  the  coronet  had  clouded  the  spirit  of  the  great  Com 
moner,  and  of  the  unrivalled  glory  of  his  administration  ;  of  his 
own  protracted  contest  for  the  barony  of  Botetourt  which  he  had 
then  but  lately  won  ;  of  his  affection  for  your  college  displayed  not 
only  by  his  punctual  attendance  on  her  ministrations,  but  by  the 
gold  and  silver  medals  which  he  had  struck  off  at  his  own  expense, 
and  which  he  awarded  to  the  successful  votaries  of  literature  and 
science  in  this  very  hall;  of  his  lamented  death,  and  of  his  burial 
beneath  the  platform  on  which  I  stand !  How  much  could  RICH 
ARD  BLAND  and  ROBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS  have  told  of  men  and 
things  that  is  lost  forever ! 

*  See  letter  of  Gov.  Page,  Va.  Hist.  Reg.  Vol.  Ill,  143.     The  grandmother 
of  Page  was  a  daughter  of  Robert  Carter  of  Corotoman. 


RICHARD  BLAND.  57 

Of  these  two  distinguished  men,  whose  names  are  so  intimately 
connected  with  our  colonial  history,  RICHARD  BLAND  was  the  elder. 
You  see  him  as  he  rises  from  his  seat,  and  as  he  walks  to  the  door. 
His  tall  figure,  as  before  observed,  is  bent  with  age ;  his  deep  blue 
eyes  have  lost  their  brightness ;  and  you  infer  rightly  from  his  slow 
and  studied  gait  that  he  is  almost  blind.*  In  some  respects  his  fame 
surpassed  that  of  most  of  his  contemporaries.  On  the  score  of  an 
cestry  he  could  vie  with  the  oldest  families,  as  his  forefathers,  if 
not  among  the  first,  were  among  the  earlier  settlers  in  the  Colony; 
and  he  could  trace  his  blood  in  the  field  and  in  the  council  to  the 
knights  of  the  Edwards  who  had  planted  the  lion  of  England  above 
the  lilies  of  France,  and  had  shown  their  prowess  in  the  wars  which 
England  waged  in  defence  of  the  phantom,  which  so  long  held  pos 
session  of  the  public  mind,  of  building  up  on  the  continent  of  Eu 
rope  a  British  State.  Nor  was  his  name  without  a  peculiar  illustra 
tion  at  home.  He  bore  in  his  veins  the  kindred  blood  of  that  Giles 
Bland,  who  struck  for  liberty  a  century  too  soon,  and  who  fell  a 
martyr  to  the  remorseless  vengeance  of  Berkeley;  and,  as  the  blood 
of  Pocahontas  was  mingled  with  his  race,  there  was  a  propriety  in 
his  position  as  the  guardian  of  the  public  rights.  And  that  office 
he  performed  with  great  ability.  From  his  youth  he  was  fond  of 
books  ;  and  passing  through  the  curricle  of  William  and  Mary,  of 
which  institution  he  subsequently  became  an  efficient  visitor,  en 
tered  the  University  of  Edinburg,  whence  he  returned  home  with  a 
generous  ambition  to  excel,  and  immediately  devoted  himself  to 
those  studies  which  bear  upon  the  business  of  life.  He  was  a  fine 
classical  scholar.  You  will  observe  on  the  title-page  of  his  Inquiry 
into  the  Rights  of  the  Colonies  a  noble  passage  from  Lactantius. 
But  his  great  learning  lay  in  the  field  of  British  history  in  its  largest 
sense  ;  and  especially  in  that  of  Virginia.  With  all  her  ancient 
charters,  and  with  her  acts  of  Assembly  in  passing  which  for  nearly 
the  third  of  a  century  he  had  a  voice,  he  was  familiar ;  and  in  this 
department  he  may  be  said  to  have  stood  supreme.  What  John 
Selden  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  first  to  the  House  of  Commons,  was  Richard  Bland  to  the  House 
of  Burgesses  for  thirty  years  during  which  he  was  a  member.  Du 
ring  that  time  on  all  questions  touching  the  rights  and  privileges 

*  "  I  am  an  old  man,  almost  deprived  of  sight."  Eland's  speech  in  the  Jour 
nal  Va.  Convention  of  July  1775,  page  15. 


58  RICHARD  BLAND. 

of  the   Colony  he  was  the  undoubted  and  truthful  oracle ;  for,  as 
was  observed  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  was  as  wise  as  he  was  learned. 
When  a  great  occasion  occurred,  a  tract  from  his  pen  was  looked 
for  and  hailed  as  a  chart  of  the   times.     He  was  returned  from 
Prince  George  to  the  House  of  Burgesses  at  an  early  age,  and  he 
soon  rose  to  the  first  rank.     He  was  not,  however,  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  term,  an  eloquent  speaker ;  for,  although  he  spoke  with  the 
ability  with  which  he  wrote,  and  exhibited  in  his  speeches  the  same 
vigor  of  logic  and  the  same  unequalled  research,  which  mark  his 
written  compositions,   he  did  not  possess  some  of  the  qualities  of  a 
speaker,  which,  though  possessed  by  ordinary  men,  are  essential  to 
all.     His  manner  was  not  attractive  to  common  observers ;  and,  as 
others  hesitated  for  the  want  of  something  to  say,  so  the  very  exu 
berance  of  his  resources  not  unfrequently  checked  the  freedom  of 
his  utterance.     But  when  a  question  arose  deeply  affecting  the  bu 
siness  and  bosoms  of  the  people,  such  was  the  imposing  earnestness 
of  his  manner,  such  were  the  extent  and  accuracy  of  his  research, 
so  conclusive  was  his  argumentation,  all  heightened  by  the  convic 
tion  of  his  good  sense  and  spotless  integrity,  that,  though  he  lacked 
the  sweet  elocution  of  Pendleton   and  moved  not  in  the  stately 
march  of  his  kinsman   Peyton  Randolph,  he  held  from  the  begin 
ning  to  the  end  of  his  speech  the  ear  of  the  House.     Still  his  claim 
of  superiority  above  his  contemporaries,  fortunately  for  his"^fame, 
rests  rather  on  his  abilities  as  a  writer  than  as  a  speaker.   JHence, 
when  any  line  of  policy,  any  great  truth,  was  to  be  impressed  on 
the  public  mind,  the  task,  from  which  both  Pendleton  and  Randolph 
would  have  shrunk,  was  always  assigned  to  him.     His  letter  to  the 
Clergy  on  the  Two  Penny  Act,  a  theme  which  called  forth  the  first 
exhibition  of  the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  and  which  settled  the 
public  mind  on  the   subject,  written  in   1760,  is  still  extant.     He 
wrote  the  first  pamphlet  on  the  nature  of  the  connexion  of  the  Col 
onies  with  the  parent  country  ;  and,  although   it  may   be  in  some 
measure  liable  to  the  friendly  criticisms  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  which, 
however,  must  be  read  with  the  allowance  necessary  in  estimating 
the  opinions  of  an  ardent  young  man  who  was  anxious  to  raise  the 
public  pulse  to  the  beat  of  his  own,  and  although  it  may  not  possess 
that  polish  which  periodical  writing  has  assumed  in  our  times,  con 
tains  sound  doctrine   enforced   with  great  ability,  and  surpassed  in 
the  judgment  of  Mr.  Jefferson  the  more  celebrated  Farmer's  Letters 


RICHARD  BLAND.  59 

written  by  Mr.  Dickinson.  And  when  at  a  later  day  the  scheme  of 
an  American  Episcopate,  which  had  slept  from  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  wTas  revived,  he  opposed  it  in  a  tract  which  may  have  led 
the  House  of  Burgesses  to  condemn  it  forthwith,  and  to  return  its 
thanks  to  the  opponents  of  the  measure.* 

It  is  time  to  observe  more  minutely  the  steps  in  the  career  of 
this  learned  man  and  devoted  patriot.  He  took  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses  about  the  year  1745,  and  remained  a  member 
until  the  Conventions  assumed  the  direction  of  affairs,  occupying  a 
leading  place  on  all  the  important  committees.  In  1760  he  de 
fended  the  Two  Penny  Act,  taking  the  side  of  the  Assembly  and 
the  people  against  the  Clergy.  In  1764  he  opposed  with  great  zeal 
on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  the  Stamp  Act  of  the  British 
Parliament,  and  was  one  of  the  committee  of  nine  which  prepared 
the  memorials  to  the  Commons,  to  the  Lords,  and  to  the  King.  The 
memorial  to  the  Lords  was  long  attributed  to  him ;  but  it  is  now 
known  to  have  been  written  by  R.  H.  Lee.  In  1765,  still  confiding 
in  the  potency  of  the  memorials  forwarded  to  England  at  the  pre 
vious  session,  he  opposed  the  resolutions  of  Patrick  Henry.  In 
1766  he  published  his  Inquiry  into  the  Rights  of  the  Colonies,  in 
which  the  whole  subject  was  discussed  for  the  first  time  with  that 
force  of  logic  and  fullness  of  illustration  which  we  have  already  al 
luded  to,  and  which  not  only  sustained  his  reputation  as  the  ablest 
writer  in  the  Colony,  but  materially  assisted  in  bringing  about  a 
right  understanding  upon  the  subject  in  question.  This  tract  won 
for  its  author  the  warmest  and  most  grateful  applause.  Among  the 
congratulatory  letters  which  he  received,  he  was  deeply  touched  by 
the  one  written  by  the  Norfolk  Sons  of  Liberty ;  and  his  answer 
may  be  referred  to  as  a  graceful  specimen  of  the  courtesy  and  pa 
triotism  of  the  period.!  In  May  1769,  when  the  House  of  Bur- 

*  This  pamphlet  I  have  not  seen,  nor  can  I  trace  any  recognition  of  it  in  the 
written  and  printed  authorities  within  my  reach  ;  but  I  am  told  by  Gov.  Taze- 
well  that  Col.  Bland  did  write  a  tract  against  the  Episcopate.  That  he  was  op 
posed  to  the  scheme  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  House  of  Burgesses  deputed 
R.  H.  Lee  and  himself  to  return  its  thanks  to  Mr.  Henley,  Mr.  R.  Gwatkin, 
Mr.  Hewitt,  and  Mr.  William  Bland,  clergymen,  for  their  open  and  decided  op 
position  to  the  scheme.  See  Journal  House  of  Burgesses  1770,  and  Burk  Vol. 
Ill,  365.  Col.  Bland  also  wrote  a  tract  on  the  tenures  of  land  in  Virginia  which 
I  have  heard  Gov.  Tazewell  say  he  had  read  before  his  examination  for  his  li 
cense  to  practice  law,  and  which  stood  him  in  good  stead.  Bancroft  makes  a 
respectful  recognition  of  Bland's  Inquiry,  Vol.  V,  442-3. 

t  The  original  is  in  the  archives  of  the  Norfolk  Clerk's  Office,  and  a  printed 
copy,  which  was  furnished  to  the  Literary  Messenger  by  Otway  Barraud  Esq. 
may  be  found  in  one  of  the  earliest  volumes  of  that  work. 


60  RICHARD   BLAND. 

gesses  was  dissolved  by  the  Governor,  and  the  members  composing 
if  assembled  at  the  Raleigh,  and  prepared  a  series  of  resolves  on 
the  subject  of  economy  and  non-importation,  he  was  among  the  first 
to  sign  the  agreement ;  and  when  in  June  of  the  following  year  the 
House  again  adjourned  to  the  Raleigh,  and  drafted  in  connection 
with  the  merchants  and  the  citizens  generally  resolutions  still  more 
stringent,  his  name  appears  among  the  first  inscribed  on  the  roll.* 
In  1773  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  Committee  of  Correspon 
dence,  and  in  August  1774  he  was  a  member  of  the  first  Virginia 
Convention,  which  was  held  in  this  city,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the 
seven  delegates  to  the  Congress  about  to  meet  at  Philadelphia,  and 
was  re-elected  till  August  1775,  when  he  declined  in  a  touching 
address  to  the  Convention,  of  which  he  was  also  a  member,  ex 
pressing  his  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  repeated  honors  which 
it  had  conferred  upon  him,  and  declaring  "that  this  fresh  instance 
of  their  approbation  was  sufficient  for  an  old  man,  almost  deprived 
of  sight,  whose  greatest  ambition  had  ever  been  to  receive  the  plau 
dit  of  his  country  whenever  he  should  retire  from  the  stage  of  pub 
lic  life."  The  Convention  consented  to  accept  his  declination  by  a 
resolution  in  these  words :  "  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  thanks 
of  this  Convention  are  justly  due  to  RICHARD  BLAND,  Esq.,  one  of 
the  worthy  deputies  who  represented  this  Colony  in  the  late  Conti 
nental  Congress,  for  his  faithful  discharge  of  that  important  trust, 
and  this  body  are  only  induced  to  dispense  with  his  future  services 
of  the  like  nature  on  account  of  his  advanced  age."  When  the  re 
solution  was  adopted,  the  president,  his  ancient  friend,  whom  we 
have  just  pointed  out  as  sitting  by  his  side,  Robert  Carter  Nicholas, 
rose  from  the  chair,  and  expressed  to  Col.  Bland  in  glowing  lan 
guage  the  high  sense  entertained  by  the  House  of  his  character, 
and  of  the  services  which  he  had  rendered  to  his  country.  On  the 
organization  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  in  July  1775  he  was  ap 
pointed  one  of  its  members,  and  in  December  of  the  same  year  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Convention  which  sat  in  Richmond,  as  he 
had  been  a  member  of  that  of  March  1775,  when  he  opposed  the 
resolutions  of  Col.  Henry  for  organizing  the  militia,  and  sustained 
the  substitute  offered  by  Col.  Nicholas.  In  the  Convention  of  May 
1776,  which  was  now  sitting,  he  appeared,  as  usual,  as  a  delegate 

*  The  agreement  of  1769  was  written  by  George  Mason,  who  was  not  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  nor  present  in  Williamsburg,  when  it  was 
adopted ;  and  was  brought  to  the  city  by  Washington. 


EGBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS.  61 

from  Prince  George,  where,  at  his  estate  called  Jordan's,  he  spent 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  life.  He  was  placed  on  every  important 
committee,  and  had  the  honor  of  belonging  to  that  which  reported 
the  Declaration  of  Rights,  and  the  Constitution.  Thus  was  his  name 
inseparably  connected  with  every  great  measure  in  the  history  of 
the  Colony  for  almost  half  a  century*  He  saw  the  name  of  Colony 
sink  down  and  that  of  the  Commonwealth  rise  in  its  stead ;  but  it 
was  not  the  will  of  Providence  that  he  should  behold  the  close  of 
the  great  contest  in  defence  of  those  rights  of  which  he  was  the 
earliest  and  ablest  asserter,  or  catch  even  a  transient  glimpse  of  the 
glorious  future  which  awaited  his  country.  He  died  while  on  a 
visit  to  this  city  at  the  residence  of  his  friend  John  Tazewell,  on 
the  28th  of  October,  1776,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and 
within  three  months  from  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention.* 

The  fate  of  ROBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS  was  more  fortunate.  He 
lived  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Delegates  under  the  new  con 
stitution,  which  he  filled  for  several  successive  years,  and  to  sit  on 
the  bench  of  the  new  judiciary,  to  hail  the  successes  of  his  friend 
Washington  at  Trenton  and  Princeton,  and  to  swell  that  chorus  of 
joy  which  rang  out  from  every  hill-top  and  spread  through  every 
valley,  when  the  victory  of  Saratoga,  sealing  the  fate  of  the  fearful 
hosts  of  Burgoyne,  was  proclaimed  over  the  land  ;t  but  he  did  not 
live  to  see,  as  he  might  almost  have  seen,  from  his  own  door,  the 
proud  banner  of  England  trailing  in  the  dust,  and  to  behold  his  be 
loved  country  take  her  place  ia  the  commonwealth  of  nations.  He 
was  brought  up  to  the  law,  soon  rose  into  eminence,  and  became 
one  of  the  leading  counsel  at  the  bar  of  the  General  Court,  when 
that  bar  was  radiant  with  the  genius  and  eloquence  of  Peyton  Ran 
dolph,  Wythe,  Pendleton,  Thomson,  Mason,  Henry,  and  John  Ran 
dolph  the  Attorney  General.  While  yet  a  young  man  he  was  re 
turned  from  James  City  to  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  remained  a 
member  of  the  body  until  it  gave  place  to  the  new  system.  From 
1764  to  1776  he  was  a  conspicuous  member  of  the  party  of  which 
Richard  Bland,  Peyton  Randolph,  and  Pendleton  were  prominent 

*  Virginia  Gazette  of  the  date.  He  was  stricken  with  apoplexy  while  walk 
ing  the  streets  of  this  city,  and  was  carried  to  Mr.  Tazewell's.  Bland  and  Taze 
well  married  sisters,  I  believe. 

f  It  is  necessary  to  look  over  the  private  letters  of  our  public  men  written  at 
the  time  to  estimate  the  importance  of  the  victory  at  Saratoga,  and  to  realize 
the  joy  with  which  it  was  received. 


62  ROBERT  CARTER   NICHOLAS. 

leaders,  and  in  1765  voted  against  the  resolutions  of  Henry.  We 
must  be  careful  to  discriminate  between  the  party  to  which  Nicho 
las  belonged  and  the  party  which  was  bound  soul  and  body  to  the 
throne.  It  is  true  that  the  latter  always  voted  with  the  former,  and 
did  not  assume  a  separate  shape  until  hostilities  began  ;  yet  there 
was  a  clear  line  of  distinction  visible  at  all  times  between  them. 
There  were  in  fact  three  great  parties  in  the  Colony  :  the  friends 
of  British  rule  under  all  circumstances  ;  the  friends  of  British  rule 
when  that  rule  did  not  impinge  on  the  rights  and  franchises  of  the 
Colony ;  and  the  radical  party,  which,  though  it  did  not  openly 
propose  or  desire  independence,  displayed  a  determination  to  resist 
so  far  that  either  a  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  acts  or  hostilities 
would  inevitably  ensue.  The  first  mainly  consisted  of  wealthy 
planters,  who  lived  upon  their  plantations  in  a  style  of  baronial 
splendor,  who  idolized  British  institutions,  whose  magnificent  es 
tates  were  bound  up  in  the  law  of  entails,  and  who  might  lose  all 
but  could  not  in  their  estimation  gain  any  thing  by  civil  commo 
tions  ;  and  of  this  party  John  Randolph,  the  Attorney  General,  who 
went  off  with  Dunmore,  was  the  head.  The  second  ranked  among 
its  members  the  most  intellectual  men  in  the  Colony,  almost  all  the 
eminent  lawyers,  a  body  of  men,  who,  in  all  the  great  civil  contests 
in  England,  had,  as  a  class,  usually  leaned  to  the  side  of  liberty, 
the  prominent  physicians,  and  the  aspiring  young  men,  who,  in 
view  of  public  life,  had  studied  history  in  the  spirit  of  philosophy, 
and  the  wide-spread  connexions  of  these  three  important  descrip 
tions  ;  and  of  this  party  Peyton  Randolph,  the  brother  of  the  Attor 
ney  General,  was  commonly  regarded  the  head.  The  third  was 
made  up  of  a  class  of  men,  young,  active,  intelligent,  and  brave, 
and,  for  the  most  part,  in  moderate  circumstances,  living  mainly  in 
the  interior;  who  had  long  observed  with  jealous  eye  that  policy 
which  bestowed  all  the  political  honors  of  the  Colony  upon  the  off 
shoots  of  a  few  wealthy  families  living  upon  tide  or  on  the  banks  of 
the  larger  streams  ;  who  were  becoming  more  and  more  hostile  to 
a  church  establishment  the  severe  pressure  of  which  they  were  be 
ginning  sensibly  to  feel;  who  already  endured  a  weight  of  taxation 
which,  though  the  ordinary  expenses  of  government  and  a  debt  of 
between  two  and  three  millions,  contracted  principally  on  account 
of  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  rendered  it  necessary,  was  oppres 
sive  ;  and  who  were  ready,  sooner  than  endure  fresh  taxes  from 


ROBERT   CARTER   NICHOLAS.  ^63 

abroad  or  acknowledge  the  right  to  lay  them,  to  resist  at  every 
hazard ;  and  of  this  party  Patrick  Henry  was  the  head.*  Nor  is  it 
necessary  for  the  purposes  of  history  to  assail  the  integrity  or  the 
patriotism  of  either  of  the  three  great  parties.  Under  similar  cir 
cumstances  the  same  parties  would  rise  to-morrow ;  and  nothing 
would  be  more  unphilosophical  than  to  judge  of  the  wisdom  or  the 
worth  of  men  from  the  failure  or  success  of  any  line  of  policy  which 
on  the  occurrence  of  any  great  emergency  they  may  be  induced  to 
adopt.  In  the  contest  of  the  Revolution  the  right  was  on  our  .side, 
but  the  power  was  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  All  the  probabili 
ties  of  successful  resistance  were  against  us.  If  the  two  countries 
had  been  left  to  their  individual  exertions,  the  result  would  have 
been  extremely  doubtful.  The  fires  of  civil  war,  now  smouldered, 
now  raging,  would  have  out-lasted  the  generation  which  kindled 
them.  But  for  the  liberal  aid  of  foreign  nations,  and  of  France  in 
particular,  the  eighteenth  century,  like  the  preceding  one  in  the 
old  world,  would  have  beheld  a  thirty  years'  war  in  the  new.  That 
the  Colonies  would  have  borne  up  in  the  contest  for  a  long  time  is 
probable  ;  but  those  who  know  that  portion  of  the  secret  history  of 
the  times  which  has  come  down  to  us,  are  aware  that  there  were 
moments  when  statesmen,  who  were  the  boldest  in  denouncing  the 
usurpations  of  Parliament,  quailed  before  the  difficulties  which 
threatened  to  overwhelm  them,  and  talked,  it  is  said,  of  a  separate 
peace  with  the  enemy.  The  history  of  the  cost  of  the  Revolution 
in  blood  and  treasure  has  not  been  written  and  never  can  be  writ 
ten.  And  if,  in  the  contemplation  of  such  imminent  risks,  some  of 
the  colonists,  instead  of  incurring  them,  were  disposed  to  postpone 
the  struggle  altogether,  let  us  thank  God  who  over-rules  the  actions 
of  men  and  who  crowned  that  fearful  contest  with  peace  and  inde 
pendence,  for  the  blessings  which  wre  enjoy,  and  let  us  show  our 
gratitude,  not  by  impugning  the  motives  of  those  who  differed  from 
our  fathers,  but  by  seeking  to  diffuse  as  widely  as  possible  peace  and 
good-will  among  men. 

But  Robert  Carter  Nicholas  requires  no  allowance  to  be  made  for 
him.  He  was  as  ardent  a  patriot,  he  was  as  ready  to  incur  great 
risks,  as  any  one  of  his  contemporaries  ;  but  the  distinguishing 

*  I  have  heard  Ex-President  Tyler  say,  on  the  authority  of  his  father,  that 
the  supporters  of  Henry's  resolutions  against  the  stamp  act  were  called  Old 
Field  Nags,  and  the  opposers  of  them  were  styled  High-blooded  Colts. 


64  ROBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS. 

feature  of  his  policy  was  to  put  the  British  government  as  far  as 
possible  in  the  wrong.  Thus,  though  he  entirely  approved  of  the 
doctrines  of  Henry's  resolutions  against  the  stamp  act,  yet,  as  he 
was  anxious  that  the  three  memorials  to  the  Commons,  to  the  Lords, 
and  to  the  King,  which  had  been  carefully  prepared  at  the  prece 
ding  session,  should  produce  their  full  effect  on  those  to  whom  they 
were  addressed,  he  voted  against  their  adoption.  Thus,  when 
Henry,  in  the  Convention  of  March  1775,  proposed  his  resolutions 
for  an  organization  of  the  militia,  Nicholas,  deeming  the  measure 
premature,  opposed  them ;  but  when  he  saw  that  the  temper  of  the 
House  was  bent  upon  military  preparation,  he  brought  forward  a 
scheme  which  displayed  the  highest  degree  of  wisdom  and  fore 
sight,  and  which,  had  it  been  adopted,  would  have  saved  hundreds 
of  lives  and  millions  of  treasure ; — a  scheme  for  raising  a  regular 
army  of  ten  thousand  men  to  serve  during  the  war.  If  this  policy 
had  been  successful,  Norfolk  would  not  have  been  reduced  to 
ashes  ;  the  invasions  which  disgraced  our  State  would  have  been 
repelled ;  our  negroes,  one-fifth  of  whom,  if  not  more,  were  irre 
coverably  lost,  would  have  been  preserved  ;  and  millions  of  pro 
perty,  which  was  destroyed  by  mere  handfulls  of  British  soldiers, 
would  have  been  saved.  Short  enlistments  were  the  bane  of  the 
Revolution ;  and  we  cannot  accord  too  much  credit  to  Nicholas, 
who  at  the  outset  saw  the  difficulties  of  the  period,  and  suggested 
such  an  admirable  scheme  for  preventing  them.  He  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  all  parties.  He  was  elected  to  all  the  responsible 
trusts  not  incompatible  with  his  office  of  Treasurer,  to  which  he  had 
been  appointed  in  1766,  when  it  was  for  the  first  time  separated 
from  that  of  Speaker,  and  which  he  still  held.  In  1769  and  1770 
he  was  among  the  foremost  signers  of  the  non-importation  agree 
ments.  In  1773  he  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Corres 
pondence  ;  but,  as  the  duties  of  the  Treasury  confined  him  to  the 
Colony,  he  was  not  deputed  to  Congress.  He  was  a  member  of  all 
the  Conventions,  and  of  the  Convention  of  July  1775,  on  the  retire 
ment  of  Peyton  Randolph,  he  was  elected  President  pro  tempore. 
He  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Delegates  under  the  new  constitu 
tion,  and  showed  the  regard  which  he  cherished  toward  Pendleton  by 
nominating  him  to  the  chair  ; — a  nomination  that  was  unanimously 
confirmed  ;  and  was  successively  re-elected  and  served  during  the 
sessions  of  '77,  '78,  and  '79,  when  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 


ROBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS.  65 

judges  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery,  and  necessarily  became  a 
judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals.  When  it  was  decided  at  the  first 
session  of  the  House  of  Delegates  that  a  person  holding  the  office  of 
Treasurer  could  not  hold  a  seat  in  the  House,  choosing  at  his  ad 
vanced  age  to  be  relieved  of  a  responsibility  which  he  had  so  long 
and  so  faithfully  borne,  and  to  retain  his  seat,  he  resigned  that 
office,  the  House  declaring  by  an  unanimous  vote  its  high  apprecia 
tion  of  the  fidelity  and  ability  with  which  he  had  discharged  its 
duties. 

His  personal  appearance  was  not  as  imposing  as  that  of  his  kins 
man  Peyton  Randolph  or  that  of  his  compatriot  Bland.  Not  above 
the  middle  stature,  his  features  rather  delicate  than  prominent,  and 
inclined  to  be  bald,  he  commanded  attention  rather  by  the  gravity 
of  his  demeanor  and  from  his  great  reputation  than  by  any  mere 
physical  qualities.  He  was  a  strong  and  ready  rather  than  an  elo 
quent  speaker,  a  sound  lawyer,  a  good  financier,  and  a  wise  states 
man.  Some  of  the  popular  expositions  put  forth  by  the  early  Con 
ventions,  and  many  of  their  elaborate  ordinances,  are  from  his  pen. 
The  stirring  appeal  to  the  people  known  as  the  Declaration  of  the 
thirteenth  of  December  1775  is  believed  to  be  the  work  of  his  hand.* 
Some  of  his  writings  in  the  archives  of  his  family,  as  stated  by 
Call,  indicate  literary  talents  of  a  high  order.!  Educated  at  Wil 
liam  and  Mary,  of  which  he  became  one  of  her  most  stedfast  friends 
and  visitors,  his  whole  life  was  spent  almost  within  the  shadow  of 
her  walls.  What  may  seem  trivial  now,  but  what  was  of  essential 
service  in  his  time,  he  was  intimately  connected  with  the  wealthi 
est  and  most  influential  families  in  the  Colony.  His  name  he  de 
rived  from  that  Robert  Carter  already  alluded  to,  who  was  the  Pre 
sident  of  the  Council  as  early  as  1726,  and  whose  portrait,  painted 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  may  yet  be  seen  in  the  par 
lors  of  Shirley. 

In  the  House  of  Delegates  under  the  new  constitution  he  opposed 
the  separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State  ;  nor  was  that  great  ob-. 
ject  fully  attained  until  some  years  after 'his  translation  to  the 
bench.  And  here  it  should  be  distinctly  observed  that  in  forming 
an  opinion  of  the  conduct  of  our  fathers,  we  should  be  careful  to  see 

*  Journal  Convention,  1775,  December,  page  63. 

•j-  See  a  sketch  of  Nicholas  in  the  preface  of  fourth  Call. 
5 


66  ROBERT   CARTER  NICHOLAS. 

the  great  questions  of  their  day  from  the  point  of  view  from  which 
they  beheld  them.  They  loved  the  forms,  the  liturgy,  and  the  doc 
trines  of  the  Episcopal  church ;  but,  great  as  was  their  attachment 
to  these,  it  did  not  wholly  influence  them  in  opposing  a  divorce  of 
the  church  from  the  state.  They  regarded  the  subject  not  by  the 
hopes  of  the  future  but  by  the  lights  of  the  past ;  and  that  past  was 
written  in  blood.  Some  of  the  purest  professors  of  the  reformed 
faith  had  been  burned  at  the  stake,  had  been  suspended  from  gib 
bets,  and  had  had  their  heads  struck  off  at  the  block.  And  some  of 
the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  believed  that  the  means  which  in 
their  view  had  prevented  for  a  century  the  shedding  of  Protestant 
blood  on  account  of  religion  in  the  Old  World,  would  be  the  safest 
to  accomplish  the  same  end  in  the  New.  Hence  they  were  op 
posed  to  a  separation  of  the  Church  from  the  State  without  a  greater 
degree  of  reflection  than  could  then  be  afforded.  Nor  was  this 
pause  desired  by  any  regard  of  the  questions  of  majority  or  mi 
nority.  When  we  recently  beheld  the  Church  of  Scotland  quit  the 
elevated  platform  which  for  centuries  she  had  held,  and  assume  an 
independent  and  antagonistic  position  to  the  State,  there  was  a 
shout  of  exultation  from  the  lovers  of  religious  freedom  throughout 
Christendom ;  but  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  leaders  in  that  great 
movement,  so  far  from  embracing  the  true  notions  of  religious 
liberty  which  we  hold  in  this  country,  strongly  insisted  that  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  State  to  uphold  an  establishment.  They  were 
ready  to  defend  the  Church  of  Scotland  against  the  encroachments 
of  the  State  ;  but,  so  far  from  desiring  a  divorce  from  it,  they  main 
tained  with  equal  zeal  the  obligation  of  the  State  to  sustain  the  es 
tablishment.  When  we  reflect  that  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  nine 
teenth  century  the  capacious  mind  of  Chalmers  had  not  embraced 
the  doctrine  of  a  separation,  we  may  well  excuse  any  momentary 
hesitation  on  the  part  of  some  of  our  patriot  fathers.  The  great 
party  of  which  Nicholas  was  a  member,  however  prompt  in  resist 
ing  aggression  from  without,  were  cautious  in  remodelling  the  do 
mestic  policy  of  the  State  when  a  civil  war  was  raging  in  the  land. 
The  conservative  influence  of  those  men  was  of  incalculable  value 
to  their  country.  Let  those  who  are  inclined  to  blame  their  caution 
in  adopting  radical  changes  in  a  time  of  extraordinary  peril,  and 
who  approve  of  what  are  now  called  the  peculiar  institutions  of  the 


ROBERT   CARTER   NICHOLAS.  6*7 

South,  keep  in  mind  that  but  for  these  very  men  those  institutions 
might  not  have  survived  the  last  century.* 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  his  election  to  a  seat  on  the 
bench ;  but  he  had  hardly  entered  on  its  duties,  when  he  was  taken 
suddenly  ill  and  died  at  his  seat  in  Hanover  in  1780  in  the  sixty- 
fifth  year  of  his  age.  Now  that  deatfr  has  put  a  seal  upon  his  fame, 
the  social  character  of  this  estimable  man  appears  in  the  most  en 
dearing  light.  He  loved  indeed  a  particular  form  of  religion,  but 
he  loved  more  dearly  religion  itself.  In  peace  or  war,  at  the  fire 
side  or  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  a  strong  sense  of 
moral  responsibility  was  seen  through  all  his  actions.  If  a  resolu 
tion  appointing  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  or  acknowledging  the 
Providence  of  God  in  crowning  our  arms  with  victory,  though 
drawn  by  worldly  men  with  worldly  views,  was  to  be  offered,  it 
was  from  his  hands  that  it  was  presented  to  the  House,  and  from 
his  lips  came  the  persuasive  words  which  fell  not  in  vain  on  the 
coldest  ears.  Indeed  such  was  the  impression  which  his  sincere 
piety,  embellishing  as  it  did  the  sterling  virtues  of  his  character, 
made  upon  his  own  generation,  that  its  influence  was  felt  by  that 
which  succeeded  it ;  and  when  his  youngest  son  near  a  quarter  of 
a  century  after  his  death  became  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  At 
torney  General  of  the  Commonwealth,  a  political  opponent,  who 
knew  not  father  or  son,  gave  him  his  support,  declaring  "that  no 
son  of  the  old  Treasurer  can  be  unfaithful  to  his  country."  Nor 
was  his  piety  less  conspicuous  in  a  private  sphere.  Visiting  on 
one  occasion  Lord  Botetourt,  with  whom  he  lived  in  the  strictest 
friendship,  he  observed  to  that  nobleman  :  "  My  lord,  I  think  you 
will  be  very  unwilling  to  die;"  and  when  asked  what  gave  rise  to 
the  remark:  " Because,"  said  he,  "you  are  so  social  in  your  na 
ture,  and  so  much  beloved,  and  have  so  many  good  things  about 
you,  that  you  must  be  loth  to  leave  them."  His  lordship  made  no 
reply ;  but  a  short  time  after,  being  on  his  death-bed,  he  sent  in 
haste  for  Col.  Nicholas,  who  lived  near  the  palace,  and  who  instantly 

*  That  George  Mason,  Wythe,  Jefferson,  Pendleton  and  others  would  have 
voted  for  emancipation  is  beyond  a  doubt.  Mr.  Jefferson  not  only  proposed 
the  measure  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  but  prepared  a  plan,  which  was  agreed 
upon  by  the  revisors,  to  be  offered  as  an  amendment  to  one  of  the  revised  bill? 
when  it  came  up  in  the  House.  George  Mason  in  giving  his  reasons  for  voting 
against  the  Federal  Constitution  in  the  Convention  which  framed  it,  enume 
rates  the  clause  which  allowed  the  introduction  of  slaves  from  abroad  for  a  lim 
ited  period,  contending  that  slavery  was  a  source  of  weakness  to  a  nation. 


68  ROBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS. 

repaired  thither  to  receive  the  last  sighs  of  his  dying  friend.  On 
entering  his  chamber,  he  asked  his  commands  :  "  Nothing,"  replied 
his  lordship,  "but  to  let  you  see  that  I  resign  those  good  things 
which  you  formerly  spoke  of  with  as  much  composure  as  I  enjoyed 
them."  After  which,  he  grasped  his  hand  with  warmth,  and  in 
stantly  expired.*  And  none  could  have  performed  with  more  ap 
propriate  feeling  than  Nicholas  the  task  which  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  devolved  upon  him  and  his  associates,  of  procuring  that 
statue  to  the  memory  of  his  friend  which  so  long  adorned  the  area 
of  the  capitol,  and  which  now  fitly  stands  within  the  limits  of  this 
college  which  in  life  the  original  so  dearly  loved.f 

If  this  true  patriot  shared  the  fate  of  Peyton  Randolph  and  Rich 
ard  Bland,  and  departed  not  only  before  he  saw  the  close  of  the 
contest  in  which  he  was  engaged  but  when  the  gloom  was  darkest, 
he  bequeathed  to  his  country  the  influence  of  his  great  name  and 
a  noble  heritage  of  sons,  educated  within  these  walls,  one  of  whom 
was  distinguished  during  the  Revolution  in  the  field  and  in  the 
council,  was  a  leading  member  of  the  Convention  which  ratified 
the  federal  constitution,  was;  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates 
whose  deliberations  he  almost  entirely  controlled,  leaving  an  im 
press  upon  our  laws  which  has  been  felt  in  our  own  generation, 
and  became  the  law-giver  of  a  new  commonwealth  then  rising  in 
the  west,  and  all  of  whom  filled  the  most  responsible  public  sta 
tions  with  fidelity  and  honor. t 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  we  are  about  to  pronounce  a  name 
which  is  inseparably  connected  with  your  College  from  its  birth 
almost  to  the  present  hour,  which  is  bound  up  with  the  history  of 

*  This  incident  is  taken  nearly  verbatim  from  the  4th  volume  of  the  new  edi 
tion  of  Call's  Reports. 

t  The  committee  charged  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  to  procure  the  statue 
consisted  of  William  Nelson,  Thomas  Nelson,  Peyton  Randolph,  Robert  C. 
Nicholas,  Lewis  Burwell  and  Dudley  Digges.  Journal  H.  of  B.  1770. 

|  Col.  Nicholas  died  at  his  seat  in  Hanover,  leaving  four  sons  ;  George,  allu 
ded  to  in  the  text,  who  removed  to  Kentucky  where  he  died  in  1799 ;  John, 
who  removed  to  New  York  and  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  that  State  ; 
Wilson  Gary,  who  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  of  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  Governor  of  Virginia  ;  and  Philip  Norborne, 
called  after  Norborne  Lord  Botetourt,  who  was  for  many  years  Attorney  Gen 
eral  of  the  Commonwealth,  President  of  the  Farmers'  Bank  of  Virginia,  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Convention  of  1829-30,  and  a  Judge  of  the  General  Court  ;  all  of 
whom  are  now  dead.  The  father  of  Robert  Carter  Nicholas  was  Dr.  George 
Nicholas,  who  emigrated  to  the  Colony  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  and  married  the  widow  Burwell  whose  maiden  name  was  Carter. 


ROBERT  CARTER  NICHOLAS.  69 

this  city,  and  which  shone  for  more  than  a  century  with  equal 
glory  in  the  Colony  and  in  the  Commonwealth.  You  see  him  who 
bears  it  sitting  within  that  group  from  which  we  have  singled  out 
Nicholas  and  Bland,  for ;  as  in  a  memorable  body  of  a  later  day, 
and  as  is  usual  in  the  British  parliament,  the  customs  of  which 
were  closely  copied  in  the  Colony,  those  who  thought  and  acted 
with  each  other  occupied  adjoining  seats;  but  he  is  a  much  younger 
man  than  either  of  them.  He  is  in  his  forty-fifth  year,  tall  and 
graceful  in  person,  his  face,  if  not  strictly  handsome,  beaming  with 
intellect  and  benevolence,  and  full  of  that  modesty,  which,  if  it  be 
not  the  unerring  mark  of  genius,  is  one  of  its  most  becoming  and 
most  winning  attendants.  He  occupied  a  seat  that  had  immemo- 
rably  been  filled  by  some  of  the  greatest  men  in  the  Colony  ;  for 
he  was  with  peculiar  propriety  the  representative  of  this  College 
in  that  august  body.  If  we  were  to  pronounce  on  the  descent  of 
a  man  by  the  test  of  the  genius,  the  virtue,  and  the  piety  of  his  an 
cestors,  his  birth  was  more  illustrious  than  that  of  any  other  mem 
ber.  He  was  descended  from  the  stock  of  that  remarkable  man, 
who  as  early  as  1685  came  over  to  the  colony  as  a  missionary,  who 
was  afterwards  appointed  commissary  of  the  Bishop  of  London 
within  whose  diocese  Virginia  then  was,  and  who  was  by  virtue  of 
his  office  a  member  of  the  Council  and  for  a  long  period  its  presi 
dent,  and  whose  benignant  face  may  still  be  seen  in  his  portrait 
suspended  from  the  walls  of  your  Blue  Room.  But  all  these  ho 
nors,  and  they  were  such  that  satisfied  the  highest  ambition  of  the 
proudest  spirits  in  the  colony,  sink  into  insignificance  beside  that 
which  was  in  every  sense  of  the  word  particularly  his  own — he 
was  the  Father  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary.  He  obtained 
her  charter ;  he  procured  her  benefactions ;  his  gentle  hand  rocked 
her  cradle ;  he  was  her  first  president ;  and  when  in  1743,  at  an 
age  far  exceeding  the  period  of  the  Psalmist,  and  after  sixty  years' 
service  in  the  Christian  Ministry,  he  breathed  his  last,  closing  his 
great  mission  here — in  your  midst — one  of  his  latest  aspirations 
to  the  Father  of  Mercies  was  that  He  might  take  his  favorite  off 
spring  under  the  shadow  of  his  wing.  Nor  was  this  great  man  the 
only  worthy  ancestor  of  the  representative  of  this  College  in  the 
Convention.  His  father  inherited  the  sound  sense,  the  manly 
piety,  and  the  self-denying  patriotism  of  our  Christian  Patriarch, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  the  Council,  of  which  he  was  for  a  long 


70  JOHN  BLAIR. 

series  of  years  the  president,  and  for  the  duties  of  which  he  was 
qualified  by  an  efficient  service  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  of 
which  he  was  a  member  from  this  city  as  early  as  1736.  The  pe 
riod  of  his  presidency  in  the  Council  was  one  of  uncommon  diffi 
culty  ;  but  in  his  correspondence  with  Col.  Clement  Read  of  Lu- 
nenburg  he  displayed  a  self-possession,  a  command  of  expedients, 
and  a  love  of  country  throughout  the  troubles  with  the  Indians 
who  infested  the  remote  outskirts  of  that  region,  which  were  wor 
thy  of  high  praise.*  A  descendant  from  the  author  of  the  dis 
courses  on  the  sermon  of  our  Saviour  on  the  Mount  could  not  well 
be  the  persecutor  of  Christian  men ;  and  we  accordingly  find  in  his 
letter  to  the  attorney  of  Spottsylvania,  which  he  wrote  as  acting 
Governor  which  he  became  on  the  death  of  Fauquier,  he  manifes 
ted  a  spirit  of  toleration  as  rare  at  that  day  as  it  was  creditable  to 
his  head  and  to  his  heart. t  But  great  as  was  the  ancestral  honor 
which  preceding  generations  reflected  on  your  representative  in 
the  Convention,  his  personal  merits  would  have  earned  him  an 
enduring  fame.  From  the  beginning  of  the  difficulties  with  the 
parent  country,  JOHN  BLAIR,  as  was  his  venerable  father,  was  al 
ways  on  the  side  of  the  Colony.  When  he  had  finished  his  course 
of  instruction  at  this  college,  he  repaired  to  London  where  he  pur 
sued  his  legal  studies  diligently  at  the  Temple,  and  was  soon  en 
gaged  in  full  business  at  the  bar  of  the  General  Court.  He  en 
tered  the  House  of  Burgesses  at  an  early  age,  and  was  a  member  in 
1765,  when  on  the  ground  maintained  by  Nicholas  and  Bland  he 
opposed  the  resolutions  of  Henry.  In  1769,  when  the  House  of 
Burgesses  was  dissolved,  he  was  one  of  that  patriotic  band  consisting 
of  Washington,  Bland,  Nicholas,  and  others,  which  held  a  meeting 
in  the  Raleigh,  and  drafted  the  non-importation  agreement  already 
referred  to ;  and  when  in  1770  the  House  was  again  dissolved  and 
the  members  again  assembled  in  the  Raleigh  to  revise  and  amend 
the  articles  of  agreement,  associating  with  themselves  the  mer 
chants  of  the  Colony,  he  was  among  them,  and  recorded  his  name 
on  that  roll  where  it  will  be  read  forever.}  In  this  year  he  was 

*  His  original  letters  to  Col.  Read  are  in  my  collection.     The  letter  to   Spott 
sylvania  may  be  found  in  our  histories,  especially  in  C.  Campbell  page  139. 

t  President  John  Blair  died  some  two  or  three   years  before  the  declaration 
of  independence,  leaving  a  spotless  name  to  his  son. 

t  Va.  Hist.  Register  Vol.  III.  17. 


JOHN  BLAIR.  fl 

appointed  one  of  the  executors  of  his  friend  Lord  Botetourt.  In 
the  Convention  now  sitting  he  appeared  as  the  delegate  from  the 
College  of  William  and  Mary,  and  was  a  member  of  the  grand 
committee  which  reported  the  Declaration  of  Rights  and  the  Con 
stitution.  He  was  destined  to  be  the  last  of  that  long  list  of  em 
inent  men  who  represented  the  College  in  the  public  councils,  and 
it  is  a  coincidence  worth  observing  in  the  history  of  your  institu 
tion,  that,  as  it  received  the  privilege  of  sending  a  member  to  the 
House  of  Burgesses — a  privilege  which  she  used  so  wisely  for  more 
than  eighty  years — from  the  charter  procured  by  James  Blair,  so 
she  was  to  lose  that  privilege  when  represented  by  his  distin 
guished  relative.  That  he  fought  gallantly  in  defence  of  his  Alma 
Mater  may  be  readily  believed ;  but,  as  the  test  questions  were 
mainly  settled  in  the  committee  before  the  constitution  was  reported 
to  the  House,  all  memory  of  the  scene  is  lost.  And,  indeed,  not  a 
word  of  any  debate  that  occurred  in  the  House  itself  has  come 
down  to  us,  nor  does  the  journal  of  the  House  show  the  character 
of  any  amendment  that  was  offered  to  the  constitution  during 
the  time  it  was  under  consideration.  He  was  elected  by  the  Con 
vention  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  when  the  judicial  depart 
ment  under  the  constitution  which  he  assisted  in  framing  was  es 
tablished,  he  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  General  Court  of  which 
he  became  Chief  Justice,  and  on  the  death  of  Robert  Carter  Nich 
olas  in  1780,  he  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Chan 
cery,  and  by  virtue  of  both  stations  become  necessarily  a  judge  of 
the  first  Court  of  Appeals ;  and  was  one  of  the  Court  when  the 
law  requiring  the  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  to  act  as  judges 
of  the  inferior  Courts  was  pronounced  unconstitutional.  Nor  by 
his  decisive  conduct  did  he  forfeit  his  popularity  with  the  Assem 
bly  ;  for  he  was  appointed  by  that  body  a  delegate  to  the  Conven 
tion  which  was  about  to  assemble  in  Philadelphia  for  a  revision  of 
the  Articles  of  Confederation.  In  that  assembly  he  supported 
with  Edmund  Randolph  and  Madison  what  was  called  the  Virginia 
plan  in  opposition  to  the  New  Jersey  scheme  which  sustained  the 
separate  sovereignty  of  the  States ;  and  with  Washington  and 
Madison  alone  of  all  the  delegates  from  Virginia  voted  for  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution  by  the  body ;  and,  when  the  federal 
constitution  was  submitted  for  the  ratification  of  Virginia,  he  was 
returned  from  the  county  of  York  to  the  Convention  which  was  to 


T2  JOHN  BLAIR. 

decide  upon  it,  and  again  voted  in  its  favor.  On  the  organization 
of  the  federal  judiciary,  he  was  appointed  by  Washington,  be 
tween  whom  and  himself  a  long  and  intimate  friendship  had  subsis 
ted,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  discharg 
ing  the  duties  of  the  office  with  ability  and  dignity  until  near  the 
time  of  his  death  in  this  city  on  the  thirty-first  of  August,  1800, 
in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

Honored,  as  he  was,  by  the  high  offices  which  he  held  through 
a  long  course  of  public  service,  he  shone  with  a  lustre,  if  not  more 
dazzling,  more  diffusive  and  more  benign  in  private  life.  His 
mild  virtues,  illustrated  by  the  highest  mental  qualities,  inspired  an 
affection  and  exerted  an  influence,  which  mere  talents,  however  ex 
alted,  rarely  effect,  and  which  were  sensibly  felt,  as  they  will  ever 
be  remembered,  in  the  polished  society  of  this  city,  of  which  he 
was  for  half  a  century  one  of  the  noblest  ornaments.*  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  the  time  has  come  when  the  glory  of  him  who  builds  a  hos 
pital  for  the  relief  of  human  woe  for  ages  after  the  heart  which 
prompted  the  deed,  has  ceased  to  beat,  and  of  him  who  builds  a 
college  for  the  diffusion  of  the  blessings  of  knowledge  and  piety 
among  the  people  long  after  the  hand  which  reared  it  has  turned  to 
dust,  is  deemed  by  the  wise  and  the  good  greater  than  the  glory  of 
"him  who  taketh  a  city."  My  own  maternal  ancestors  came  from 
the  same  country  from  which  came  James  Blair,  and  bore  his  name 
as  I  do  now;  and  if  I  thought  that  I  had  a  drop  of  blood  in  my 
veins  kindred  with  his  own,  I  would  not  exchange  it  for  the  blood 
of  the  proudest  knight  that  ever  won  his  spurs  on  the  fields  of 
Cressy  or  Poictiers,  or  who  with  the  lion-hearted  Richard  had 
gathered  trophies  beneath  the  ramparts  of  the  Holy  City.f 

I  have  alluded  to  the  character  of  the  society  which  so  long  adorned 
this  city  in  the  Colony  and  in  the  Commonwealth.  It  was  such  as  was 
almost  unknown  in  any  other  Colony  and  was  rarely  surpassed  else 
where.  Sir,  if  we  could  raise  by  the  wand  of  the  enchanter  the 

*  The  late  St.  George  Tucker,  the  elder,  writing  to  Wirt  in  1813,  speaks  of 
Blair  as  "a  model  of  human  perfection  and  excellence,"  and  as  "a  man  of  the 
most  exalted  and  immaculate  virtues."  Kennedy's  Life  of  Wirt,  vol.  I.  316. 

f  The  tomb  of  James  Blair  is  at  Jamestown  ;  that  of  John  Blair  and  his  wife 
Jean  is  in  the  church  yard  of  this  city.  I  am  indebted  to  my  young  friend  Wil 
liam  Lamb  of  Norfolk,  now  a  student  of  William  and  Mary,  for  a  knowledge 
of  the  fact  that  Commissary  Blair  bequeathed  by  his  will  now  on  record  in  the 
General  Court  at  Richmond  his  estate  to  John  Blair,  the  father  of  the  John 
Blair  of  the  Convention. 


JOHN  BLAIR.  73 

social  scenes  which  were  enacted  more  than  eighty  years  ago  in  this 
city,  what  a  vision  of  high  bearing,  of  gentle  courtesy,  of  command 
ing  intellect,  and  of  dazzling  beauty,  would  charm  the  ravished  sight ! 
The  amiable  Botetourt,  destined  to  an  early  grave,  is  yet  in  vigor 
ous  health,  and  is  holding  one  of  his  gay  entertainments  in  yonder 
palace.  He  had  recently  received  glad  tidings  from  the  mother 
country,  and  had  communicated  them  to  the  Burgesses,  who  had 
responded  to  them  in  a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  peace  ;  and  every 
heart  beat  high  with  joy.  You  see  him  as  he  stands,  with  a  smile 
on  his  face,  at  the  head  of  his  suite  of  rooms,  arrayed  in  the  cos 
tume  of  his  order,  the  arms  of  Britain  and  the  arms  of  Virginia, 
drawn  with  all  the  honors  of  heraldic  emblazonry,  fondly  in 
tertwined  and  suspended  above  him,  and  as  he  extends  to  his 
guests  the  gratulating  hand.  His  council,  Burwell,  Corbin,  Brax- 
ton,  Wormley,  the  younger  Nelson,  Page,  the  patriarch  Nelson 
in  their  midst,  are  standing  beside  him;  and  near  him  clad  in 
their  robes,  the  President  of  the  College,  John  Camm,  the  succes 
sor  of  Blair  in  the  office  of  Commissary,  and,  as  such,  a  member 
of  the  Council,  celebrated  for  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he 
had  long  upheld  in  many  a  well-contested  field  the  claims  of  his 
class,  and  his  reverend  associates  Gwatkin  and  Henley,  who  were 
ere  long  to  oppose  the  scheme  of  an  American  Episcopate  so 
warmly  cherished  by  their  principal,  and  'to  receive  the  formal 
thanks  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  their  wisdom  and  courage. 
I  You  see  approach  the  elegant  Pendleton,  yet  untouched  by  time, 
alike  the  pride  of  the  bar,  the  light  of  the  senate,  and  the  grace 
of  the  social  sphere,  and  you  mark  the  impression  which  he  makes 
as  he  salutes  his  noble  host.  You  hear  the  cry  of  "The  Speaker  * 
— The  Speaker," — and  you  behold,  bending  low  as  he  makes  his 
obeisance,  the  stately  form  of  Peyton  Randolph,  his  queenly  wife, 
who  was  ere  long  to  weep  in  a  distant  city  at  the  bedside  of  her 
dying  husband,  and  to  pay  in  this  hall  the  last  sad  tribute  at  his 
grave,  resting  on  his  arm  ;  while  the  grave  Treasurer,  Robert  Car 
ter  Nicholas,  is  at  one  hand,  and  the  Clerk  of  the  House,  the 
modest  Wythe,  at  the  other.  Whose,  you  inquire,  is  that  com 
manding  figure,  attired  with  scrupulous  taste  in  the  rich  dress  of 
the  period,  that  is  just  announced,  and  is  approaching  the  host, 
his  partner  on  his  arm,  her  early  beauty  beaming  still,  and  who 
was  to  share  with  her  husband,  ere  that  beauty  faded,  the  purest 


JOHN  BLAIR. 

fame  that  human  virtue  ever  won,  and  who  in  the  fullness  of  time 
was  to  place  with  her  own  hands  the  cypress  on  that  sacred  brow 
— the  victor  with  armies  yet  unraised — the  chief  of  an  empire 
whose  corner-stone  was  yet  unlaid — the  peerless  model  for  the 
admiration  of  ages  yet  unborn — I  need  not  name  his  name.  Now 
behold  the  thick-coming  throng  of  names  which  Virginia  will  never 
"willingly  let  die."  The  aged  Bland,  moving  slowly,  salutes  the 
host,  who  advances  to  greet  him  ;  Archibald  Gary,  his  small  sta 
ture  and  delicate  features  veiling  from  the  common  eye  the  lion- 
spirit  that  burned  within ;  John  Randolph  the  Attorney  General, 
his  noble  form  still  erect,  his  cheek  yet  unmoistened  with  repen 
tant  tears ;  the  brilliant  brotherhood  of  Lees  ;  the  sprightly  Jef 
ferson,  his  great  Declaration  and  his  greater  statutes  abolishing  pri 
mogeniture  and  entails  and  an  established  church  yet  unwritten ; 
John  Tyler,  the  venerable  Marshal  of  the  Colony,  supported  by 
his  son  John,  on  whose  youthful  and  honest  face  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  the  Huguenot  seemed  to  struggle  for  the  mastery ;  *  Carter, 
another  descendant  of  a  president  of  the  Council,  still  bearing  on 
his  escutcheon  the  heraldic  symbol  whence  he  derived  his  name. 
Still — still  they  come ; — the  Burwells,  the  Scotts,  the  Digges',  Ca- 
bell  of  Union  Hill,  Peyton,  Mayo,  Carrington,  Thompson  Mason, 
Jones,  Hutchings,  Bassett,  Read,  Lewis,  Woodson,  Starke,  Poy- 
thress,  Barbour,  Ball,  Riddick,  West,  Newton,  Walke,  Cocke,  Banis 
ter,  Baker,  Moseley,  Marable,  Johnson,  Gray,  Wilson  ;  and  conspicu 
ous  even  in  that  gallant  band  was  the  benignant  face  of  John  Blair. 
But  they  came  not  alone.  Would  that  I  could  draw  aside  the  pall  of 
time,  and  present  to  the  view  of  their  lovely  descendants  the  mo 
thers  and  daughters  who  shed  their  brightness  and  beauty  over  that 
fairy  scene!  The  music  sounds;  and  the  courteous  host  leads  off 
the  dancing  train;  and  the  stately  Randolph,  the  gay  Pendleton, 
the  gallant  Washington,  Innis,  then  in  the  dawn  of  his  splendid  fame, 
but  in  the  fullness  of  his  gigantic  proportions,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
smiling  as  he  offers  his  only  hand  to  the  fortunate  fair,  join  in  the 
mirthful  dance. — But  that  dance  is  done — the  last  note  of  that  de 
licious  music  has  died  away — the  scene  is  closed.  Even  the  joy 
which  it  inspired,  was  short-lived.  A  profligate  ministry  had  de 
ceived  the  candid  but  credulous  host ;  and  soon  that  crowd  gath- 

*  The  young  Tyler  in  the  text  is  the  father  of  the  Ex-president. 


JOHN  BLAIR.  75 

ered  around  his  grave. — Years  have  passed,  and  the  curtain  rises 
once  more.  The  vicegerent  of  the  British  king  no  longer  dwells  in 
his  palace — he  is  gone — his  very  palace  is  in  ruins — the  sceptre  of 
his  king  has  been  broken.  The  kingdom  has  passed  away.  The 
Republic  has  risen  in  its  place  and  "  beams  herself "  in  all  her 
beauty  before  us.  New  views  and  fresh  feelings  inspire  the  gene 
ral  mind.  Liberty — Independence — Peace — Union — are  the  magic 
watch-words  of  the  age.  Again,  assembled  in  this  city,  behold  the 
gladsome  throng.  The  blended  arms  of  Britain  and  Virginia  are  no 
longer  seen  suspended  from  the  wall.  The  portrait  of  the  king,  too, 
is  gone ;  but  another  is  seen  beside  which  the  image  of  the  proudest 
king  that  ever  filled  a  throne  grows  pale.  A  familiar  face  it  was 
and  long  had  been  in  the  streets  of  this  city  and  at  its  firesides. 
But  it  was  a  face  whose  influence  no  familiarity  could  impair ;  for 
it  was  the  face  of  him  who  had  led  our  armies  in  war,  who  had  suc 
ceeded  in  establishing  a  federal  union,  and  who  was  in  the  first 
term  of  his  first  administration.  Grateful  tidings  from  abroad, 
which  filled  every  breast  with  joy,  had  just  been  proclaimed.  The 
sun  of  French  liberty — too  soon  to  set  in  blood — was  seen  on  the 
edge  of  the  horizon.  As  the  people  assemble,  no  lordly  minion,  in 
regal  array,  stands  to  receive  their  homage,  but,  in  his  stead,  be 
neath  his  own  roof,  the  modest  Blair  extends  the  cordial  welcome. 
Elevated,  as  he  had  been,  to  the  highest  honors  of  the  federal  judi 
ciary,  he  wears  not  the  simple  robe  of  his  office,  but  appears,  as  he 
was,  without  disguise,  like  justice  herself,  whose  minister  he  was. 
Again  the  sound  of  music  is  heard.  Wisdom,  gallantry  and  beauty 
again  move  in  the  mystic  mazes  of  the  dance,  or  share  in  more  se 
rious  mood  the  enthusiasm  of  the  kindling  scene.  And  that  music, 
too,  has  died  away;  and  all  those  brave  men  and  lovely  women 
have  retired  to  their  homes — and  to  their  graves.  But  the  memory 
of  their  genius  and  valor,  of  their  social  elegance,  of  their  beauty 
and  their  worth,  which  diffused  so  long  over  this  city  their  charm 
ing  influence  and  which  is  felt  to  this  hour,  still  lives,  and  with  that 
memory  the  image  of  Blair,  as  he  appeared  in  private  life,  is  in 
separably  inwoven.* 

Let  me  invite  your  attention,  Mr.  President,  to  a  group  of  young 

*  The  reader  who  delights  in  recalling  the  images  of  the  past  will  read  with 
interest  the  graceful  discourse  of  John  R.  Thompson  Esq.  founded  on  the  Bote- 
tourt  papers,  which  was  published  in  the  Messenger  of  the  past  year. 


76  EDMUND  RANDOLPH. 

men  who  are  conversing  with  each  other  near  the  door  leading  into 
the  lobby.  There  are  three  of  them  you  perceive.  A  casual 
glance  discloses  at  once  that  two  of  them  are  rather  above  the  mid 
dle  stature,  while  the  third  is  much  below  it.  Those  three  young 
men  the  observer,  if  he  could  have  cast  his  prophetic  eye  to  the 
close  of  the  century,  would  have  pronounced  the  most  remarkable 
men  in  the  body.  Two  of  them  had  just  taken  their  seats  in  a  de 
liberative  body  for  the  first  time ;  the  third  had  been  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses  at  its  last  session.  In  their  history  is 
wrapped  up  the  history  of  the  most  important  epoch  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  tallest  of  the  three  was  the  representa 
tive  of  Williamsburg  in  the  Convention.  His  noble  stature,  his 
handsome  face,  his  imposing  address,  insensibly  arrest  the  atten 
tion.  There  was  something  of  accident  in  his  position  that  bespoke 
respect.  He  bore  on  his  youthful  shoulders  the  mantle  of  Wythe, 
who,  having  been  chosen  by  the  city  of  Williamsburg  as  its  repre 
sentative  in  Convention,  was  necessarily  absent  in  the  General  Con 
gress,  and  was  represented  by  him  as  his  alternate.  His  position 
was  one  of  extreme  interest  to  William  and  Mary  ;  for  she  well 
knew  that  the  contest  for  the  honor  of  sending  a  delegate  to  the 
Assembly,  which  she  had  so  long  and  so  worthily  worn,  was  now 
approaching.  There  was  a  singular  fortune  in  having  such  a  friend 
at  such  a  conjuncture.  He  had  been  educated  within  her  walls,  and 
his  father,  and  his  grandfather  before  him.  The  name  of  his  great 
grandfather  was  written  in  her  original  charter.  All  of  them  had 
gallantly  sustained  her  interests,  and  had  represented  her  at  various 
periods  in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Randolphs,  from  father  to  son, 
from  generation  to  generation,  she  had  counted  among  her  favorite 
children.  She  lost  her  cause  indeed,  not  from  any  want  of  ability 
in  her  advocates,  but  from  controlling  considerations  of  public 
policy  which  no  eloquence  might  gainsay.  Sir,  I  need  not  say  that 
I  allude  to  EDMUND  RANDOLPH.  He  was  in  the  twenty-third  year 
of  his  age,  and  nearly  six  feet  in  height,  and  his  manners  were  those 
of  a  man  who  had  moved  from  boyhood  in  the  refined  society  of  the 
metropolis.  His  literary  acquirements  were  of  the  highest  order. 
The  English  classics  he  had  studied  with  the  closest  attention,  as 
some  of  his  books  still  extant  attest.  He  loved  philosophy,  and  had 
dipped  deeply  into  metaphysics  which  Scottish  genius  had  then 
recently  invested  with  peculiar  interest ;  and  he  loved  poetry  as  a 


EDMUND  RANDOLPH.  77 

kinsman  of  Thomas  Randolph,  the  boon  companion  of  Shakspeare 
and  Ben  Johnson,  was  bound  to  love  it.*  When  a  young  relative, 
\vho  was  to  wreathe  their  common  name  with  fresh  honors,  was 
sent  to  study  law  with  him,  the  first  book  which  he  put  into  his 
hands  was  Hume's  "  Treatise  of  Human  Nature,"  and  the  next  was 
Shakspeare.  t  He  spoke  with  a  readiness,  with  a  fullness  of  illus 
tration,  and  with  an  elegance  of  manner  and  of  expression,  that  ex 
cited  universal  admiration.  Moreover,  he  was  regarded  as  the 
most  promising  scion  of  a  stock  which  had  been  from  time  imme 
morial  foremost  in  the  Colony.  No  member  could  recall  a  time 
when  a  Randolph  had  not  held  high  office.  No  man  could  remem 
ber  a  time  when  a  Randolph  was  not  among  the  wealthiest  of  the 
Colony.  A  few  old  men  had  heard  from  their  fathers  that  the  origi 
nal  ancestor  had  some  time  beyond  the  middle  of  the  previous  cen 
tury  come  over  from  Yorkshire  poor,  and  made  his  living  by  build 
ing  barns ;}  but  they  also  remembered  his  industr}7,  his  integrity, 
and  his  wonderful  success  in  acquiring  large  tracts  of  land  which 
he  bequeathed  to  his  children,  and  the  political  honors  which  he 
himself  lived  to  attain.  In  the  space  of  near  thirty  consecutive 
years,  three  of  the  family  had  filled  the  office  of  Attorney  General. 
One  had  been  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  the  past 
ten  years.  Nor  was  their  success  the  result  of  the  prestige  of  a 
name,  and  confined  to  the  Colony.  When  Peyton  Randolph  ap 
peared  in  the  Congress  of  1774,  he  was  unanimously  called  to  pre 
side  in  that  illustrious  assembly.  But  Peyton  had  died  seven  months 
before,  a  martyr  in  the  civil  service  of  the  country,  and  his  brother 
John,  the  father  of  Edmund,  the  Attorney  General,  had  adhered  to 
the  fortunes  of  Dunmore.  This  last  circumstance,  which  might 
have  cast  a  stain  on  the  escutcheon  of  most  young  men,  tended  to 
the  popularity  of  Edmund  ;  for  it  was  believed  that  he  not  only  re 
fused  to  follow  his  father,  but  sought  to  dissuade  him  from  leaving;  || 
and  he  soon  gave  a  hostage  to  fortune  in  leading  to  the  altar  a 
lovely  and  accomplished  woman — a  true  W7hig — the  daughter  of 

*  Sir  John  Randolph,  the  grandfather  of  Edmund,  was  a  grand-nephew  of 
Thomas  Randolph  the  poet.     Va.  Hist.  Register  Vol.  IV,  138. 

f  Southern  Lit.  Messenger,  February  1854.    Article  on  the  Randolph  library. 
$  Carrington  Memoranda. 

||  He  was  disinherited  by  his  father  for  refusing  to  adhere  to  the  royal  cause. 
Preface  to  the  Vindication  of  E.  Randolph,  lately  republished  by  his  grandson 


78  EDMUND  RANDOLPH. 

that  stern  old  Treasurer  who  would  have  been  the  last  man  living 
to  mingle  the  blood  of  his  race  with  that  of  a  traitor.  Nor  did  the 
smiles  of  beauty  afford  the  only  guerdon  of  the  brilliant  triumphs 
that  awaited  him.  He  sought  the  camp  of  Washington,  and  became 
a  member  of  his  military  family.  The  people  of  this  city,  as  before 
observed,  sent  him  to  the  Convention  which  was  now  sitting  as  the 
alternate  of  Wythe,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year  elected  him 
their  Mayor.  The  Convention  itself  conferred  upon  him  the  office 
of  Attorney  General  under  the  new  constitution  ;  and  at  a  subse 
quent  session  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  he  was  appointed  its  clerk. 
His  success  at  the  bar  was  extraordinary.  Clients  filled  his  office, 
and  beset  him  on  his  way  from  the  office  to  the  court-house  with 
their  papers  in  one  hand  and  with  guineas  in  the  other.*  In  1779 
he  was  deputed  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  remained  a  mem 
ber  until  1782.  In  1786  he  was  elected  Governor  by  the  General 
Assembly,  and  was  chosen  by  the  same  body  one  of  the  seven  dele 
gates  to  the  Convention  at  Annapolis,  and  in  the  following  year  to 
the  General  Convention  which  had  been  summoned  to  revise  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  In  1788  he  was  returned  by  the  county 
of  Henrico  to  the  Convention  which  was  called  to  decide  upon  the 
federal  constitution.  In  1790  he  was  appointed  by  Washington  the 
first  Attorney  General  under  the  new  federal  system,  as  he  had  been 
the  first  Attorney  General  of  Virginia — thus  filling  an  office  which  had 
been  hereditary  for  three  generations  in  his  family.  In  1795  he 
succeeded  Mr.  Jefferson  as  Secretary  of  State ;  an  office  which  he 
held  but  for  a  short  time,  when  he  withdrew  to  private  life,  and  re 
sumed  the  practice  of  the  law.  His  person,  his  mode  of  speaking, 
the  caste  of  his  eloquence,  as  these  appeared  in  his  latter  years,  are 
described  by  Wirt,  and  will  live  in  the  pages  of  the  British  Spy. 
He  died  in  1813  in  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  age.  The  history  of  this 
extraordinary  man  is  the  history  of  Virginia  for  the  most  interesting 
quarter  of  a  century  in  her  annals,  and  this  history,  although  it  has 
not  yet  seen  the  light,  has  been  recorded  by  his  pen.t  Of  all  the 
spheres  in  which  he  moved,  that  in  the  Federal  Convention  held  in 

*  I  heard  this  fact  from  an  eye-witness. 

f  Mr.  Wirt  saw  and  consulted  it  while  he  was  writing  his  sketches  of  Henry ; 
I  am  sorry  to  say  that  this  history  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  New  Orleans  some 
years  ago,  while  in  the  possession  of  the  grandson  of  Edmund  Randolph  who 
resided  in  that  city.  The  exact  date  of  the  birth  of  Edmund  Randolph  is 
August  10,  1753. 


HENRY  TAZEWELL.  79 

Philadelphia  will  especially  attract  the  attention  of  posterity.  His 
career  in  that  body  was  surpassingly  brilliant  and  effective;  and, 
although  he  ultimately  voted  against  the  adoption  of  the  constitution 
by  that  body,  that  instrument  may  be  said,  perhaps,  to  bear  more 
distinctly  the  impress  of  his  hand  than  that  of  any  other  individual. 
Nor  was  his  course  in  the  Convention  of  ratification,  in  which  he 
sustained  the  constitution,  less  imposing.  But  we  must  stop  here. 
My  present  purpose  has  been  to  present  him  to  your  view  as  he 
appeared  in  the  prime  of  early  manhood  as  the  delegate  of  Wil- 
liamsburg  in  the  Convention  of  1776,  and  that  is  accomplished.* 

Another  member  of  that  youthful  group  of  which  Randolph  from 
his  stature,  and  more  developed  form,  was  a  prominent  figure,  was 
HENRY  TAZEWELL.  He,  too,  was  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  his 
age,  rather  above  than  below  the  middle  stature,  and,  though  not 
as  portly  as  Randolph,  or  as  he  himself  subsequently  became,  pos 
sessed  a  form  of  perfect  symmetry,  and  was  a  model  of  manly 
beauty.  He  was  descended  from  William  Tazewell,  who  came 
over  from  Somersetshire  in  1715,  who  married  a  daughter  of  Col. 
Southey  Littleton,  and  who  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law. 
His  father,  Littleton,  resided  in  the  county  of  Brunswick,  where 
in  1753  Henry  was  born.  He  lost  his  father  in  early  life,  be 
came  a  student  of  William  and  Mary,  and  studied  law  with  his 
uncle  John  Tazewell,  wrho  was  the  clerk  of  the  Convention 
then  sitting  of  which  he  was  now  a  member,  and  was  soon 
admitted  to  the  bar.  Like  Pendleton,  he  may  be  said  hardly 
to  have  known  a  father's  care,  and,  like  him,  married  before  he 
was  of  age ;  and  shared  with  him  the  misfortune  of  losing  the 
bride  of  his  youth  in  the  short  space  of  three  years  after  their 
marriage.  Her  name  was  Dorothea  Elizabeth  Waller.  Tradition 
has  handed  down  to  us  a  glowing  picture  of  young  Tazewell  in  the 
first  flower  of  manhood.  Fortunately  an  admirable  portrait  by  the 
elder  Peale  sustains  the  impression  which  he  made  upon  his  con 
temporaries.  At  the  court  of  Elizabeth  or  of  the  second  Charles, 
his  mere  physical  qualities  would  have  won  his  way  to  the  highest 
offices  in  the  State.  His  face  was  extremely  beautiful.  His 
bright  hazel  eye  shaded  by  long  black  lashes,  his  nose  of  Greek 

*  Edmund  Randolph  died  on  the  twelfth  of  September  1813  in  the  county  of 
Frederic,  now  Page,  and  was  there  buried.  No  true  portrait  exists  of  him.  A 
silouette  profile  of  his  face  is  in  the  possession  of  one  of  his  descendants. 


80  HENRY  TAZEWELL. 

rather  than  of  Roman  mould,  hrs  forehead  full  and  high,  his  auburn 
locks,  parted  at  the  foretop,  and  falling  "not  beneath  his  shoulders 
broad,"  presented  a  striking  picture  ;  while  the  tints  of  his  skin, 
partaking  more  of  the  Italian  than  the  Saxon  hue,  bespoke,  like 
his  name,  which,  though  assuming  an  English  form,  was  of  French 
origin,  the  foreign  blood  in  his  veins.*  His  carriage  was  altogether 
becoming,  and  blended  the  freedom  of  the  cavalier  with  the  more 
chastened  demeanor  of  the  scholar.  But,  however  prepossessing 
as  his  personal  appearance  undoubtedly  was,  none  knew  better 
than  he  that  at  a  time  when  men's  lives  and  liberties  and  those 
of  their  children  were  dependent  upon  the  wisdom  and  courage  of 
their  representatives,  other  and  far  higher  qualities  were  indis 
pensable  to  a  successful  public  career ;  and  to  attain  such  qualities 
had  long  been  the  scope  of  his  ambition.  He  had  thus  prepared 
himself  with  the  utmost  deliberation  for  the  scene  which  wras  now 
opening  before  him.  In  1775,  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  his 
age,  he  was  returned  by  his  native  county  of  Brunswick  to  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  which  was  convoked  to  receive  the  concilia 
tory  propositions  of  Lord  North  ;  and,  with  an  alacrity  that  did 
him  infinite  honor,  he  prepared  an  answer  in  detail  wrhich  was 
read  and  approved  by  Nicholas  and  Pendleton,  but  from  a  casual 
absence  or  from  some  trifling  accident  he  was  anticipated  by  Mr. 
Jefferson  whose  answer  was  ultimately  adopted.  That  at  so  early 
an  age  he  should  have  prepared  with  such  promptness  on  so  im 
portant  a  question  a  paper  which  received  the  sanction  of  two  of 
the  ablest  members  of  the  house,  reflects  the  highest  credit  upon 
his  intellect  and  his  patriotism.  In  the  Convention  now  sitting  he 
appeared  as  a  delegate  from  Brunswick,  and,  young  as  he  was,  was 
placed  on  the  grand  committee  which  reported  the  Declaration  of 
Rights  and  the  Constitution.  He  was  regularly  returned  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Delegates  for  some  years  under  the  new  consti 
tution  until  his  elevation  to  the  bench ;  and  it  was  in  that  school 
he  earned  some  of  his  most  precious  titles  to  the  esteem  and  grati 
tude  of  his  countrymen.  Nor  could  a  better  school  of  statesman 
ship  have  been  found  than  the  House  of  Delegates  from  the  de- 

*  The  name  is  believed  to  have  been  spelt  originally  Tazouille,  and  those 
who  bore  it  came  over  from  France  to  England  prior  to  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes.  The  portraits  of  Judge  Tazewell  and  his  wife  are  in  the 
possession  of  his  son  Gov.  Tazewell.  The  resemblance  between  the  husband 
and  wife  is  striking. 


HENRY   TAZEWELL.  81 

claration  of  independence  to  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitu 
tion.  All  the  leading  topics  of  a  republican  system,  all  the  great 
measures  of  domestic  legislation,  were  perpetually  brought  into 
view,  and  were  discussed  with  extraordinary  ability.  The  law  of 
primogeniture,  the  law  of  entails,  the  expediency  of  a  church  es 
tablishment,  paper  money,  the  payment  of  taxes  in  kind,  the  con 
fiscation  of  British  debts,  the  discrimination  in  regard  of  emi 
grants,  the  mode  and  means  of  conducting  the  war,  the  expedi 
ency  of  forming  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and,  subsequently, 
of  amending  them,  the  regulation  of  commerce,  the  disposition 
of  the  public  lands,  stretching  to  the  northern  lakes  in  one  di 
rection  and  to  the  Mississippi  in  another ;  these  were  some  of  the 
subjects  discussed  at  that  time  by  the  public  men  of  the  new  Com 
monwealth  ;  and  it  was  in  this  school  that  the  talents  of  Tazewell 
were  displayed  with  such  effect  as  to  make  a  strong  impression  of 
his  qualities  as  a  jurist  and  as  a  etatesman. 

It  has  been  observed  that  Tazewell  engaged  early  in  the  prac 
tice  of  the  law.  He  soon  relinquished  the  ordinary  county  business, 
and  confined  himself  to  the  General  Court,  at  the  bar  of  which  he 
rose  into  eminence,  and  enjoyed  a  large  and  lucrative  practice. 
Hence  in  1785,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-two,  an  age  when  others 
were  in  their  noviciate  at  that  bar,  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  on  its 
bench,  and  consequently  became  a  member  of  the  first  Court  of 
Appeals.  In  1793  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Court  of  Ap 
peals  now  consisting  of  five  judges;  and  in  1795  he  was  chosen  a 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  as  the  successor  of  John  Taylor  of 
Caroline,  even  though  the  name  of  his  friend  Madison  was  put  in 
opposition  to  his  own. 

The  office  of  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  has  always  been 
held  in  high  honor;  nor  is  its  importance  likely  to  be  diminished 
with  the  expansion  of  our  territory  and  from  the  controlling  po 
sition  which  this  country  must  ere  long  maintain  among  the  na 
tions  of  the  earth ;  but  it  would  be  improper  to  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  relative  importance  of  the  individual  members  was  greater 
more  than  fifty  years  ago  than  it  is  at  present,  and  that  the  body 
itself  consisted  of  men  of  a  higher  order  of  talents  than  is  now  to 
be  seen.  The  number  of  Senators  was  then  small,  hardly  exceed 
ing  that  of  th?  independence  committee  of  the  Convention  now 
sitting,  or  of  the  committees  on  the  legislative,  executive,  or  the 
6 


82  HENRY    TAZEWELL. 

judiciary  department  in  the  Convention  of  1829-30,  and  did  not  ex 
ceed  thirty  members.  A  single  vote  might  be  expected  ordinarily 
to  decide  the  most  serious  questions.  A  single  vote  would  have 
rejected  the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  negotiated  by  Mr.  Jay. 
Moreover,  the  time  when  Tazewell  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
was  one  of  unprecedented  difficulty.  It  was  indeed  a  sphere  con 
genial  to  his  tastes  and  for  which  his  career  in  the  House  of  Del 
egates  and  on  the  bench  eminently  qualified  him  ;  still  his  position 
was  peculiar  and  deeply  responsible.  He  was  the  youngest  mem 
ber  whom  Virginia  had  yet  sent  to  the  Senate.  As  an  American, 
and,  above  all,  as  a  Virginian,  he  cherished  the  highest  admiration 
and  the  warmest  affection  for  that  illustrious  man  who  then  pre 
sided  in  the  federal  government ;  yet,  painful  as  the  office  was,  he 
was  constrained  by  his  own  sense  of  duty  and  by  the  known  will 
of  his  constituents,  to  oppose  the  great  measures  of  the  adminis 
tration.  The  question  of  the  assumption  act,  and  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  had  already  been  settled;  but  he  was  called  upon 
immediately  to  consider  the  British  treaty  which  the  president  had 
just  communicated  to  the  Senate,  and  to  oppose  its  ratification 
with  all  his  zeal.  In  the  discussions  on  the  merits  of  the  treaty  he 
bore  a  distinguished  part,  and  proposed  a  series  of  resolutions  em 
bodying  the  principal  objections  to  that  instrument,  which  involved 
one  of  the  most  memorable  debates  in  our  history,  and  which  were 
ultimately  lost  by  a  vote  of  twenty  to  ten.*  But  we  cannot  dwell 
longer  on  his  course  in  the  Senate  than  to  observe  that  he  per 
formed  with  unqualified  applause  the  office  of  a  leader  in  the  re 
publican  party  during  a  period  of  five  years  the  most  remarkable 
in  our  annals.  As  a  state  politician,  he  approved  the  abolition 
of  primogeniture  and  entails,  and  the  separation  of  the  church 
from  the  state.  He  was  a  friend  of  religious  freedom  in  its  largest 
sense ;  and  when  Priestley,  flying  from  a  persecution  which  had 
reduced  his  library  to  ashes,  and  which  threatened  his  life,  arrived 
in  this  country,  he  became  his  friend ;  and  a  copy  of  his  work  on 
History,  presented  to  him  by  the  author,  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the 

*  Of  the  thirty  members  who  voted  on  the  question  of  ratifying  Jay's  treaty, 
all  are  dead.  Col.  Burr,  who  represented  New  York,  was  the  last  survivor.  S. 
T.  Mason  was  the  colleague  of  Henry  Tazewell,  and  both  left  sons  who  held 
seats  in  the  Senate.  It  is  a  singular  coincidence  that  Henry  Tazewell  in  1795 
succeeded  John  Taylor  of  Caroline  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
his  son  Littleton  thirty  years  afterwards  succeeded  the  same  individual.  Taze 
well'*  Resolutions  may  be  seen  in  Senate  Journal,  June  24,  1795. 


JAMES    MADISON.  83 

library  of  his  son.  On  the  subject  of  state  taxation  he  was  in  ad 
vance  of  his  times ;  and  after  the  close  of  the  war  resisted  the 
policy  of  the  payment  of  taxes  in  kind  as  equally  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  the  planter  and  of  the  Commonwealth  ;  and,  although 
that  system  was  upheld  by  Henry,  Pendleton,  Cabell  of  Union 
Hill,  and  other  prominent  men,  he  finally  succeeded  with  others  in 
effecting  a  change.  His  career  in  the  federal  councils  drew  to  a 
sudden  close.  He  was  taken  ill  from  exposure  on  his  journey  to 
Philadelphia  in  which  city  Congress  then  held  its  sessions,  and 
died  in  the  winter  of  1799  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 
There  his  remains  repose  near  those  of  the  eloquent  Innis.  Thus 
passed  away  one  among  the  most  distinguished  of  our  early  states 
men,  who  from  his  youth,  in  the  sunshine  of  peace  and  amid  the 
storms  of  revolution,  had  devoted  all  his  faculties  to  the  service  of 
his  country  ;  and  if  the  light  of  his  glory  in  the  long  lapse  of  years 
has  seemed  to  grow  dim,  it  is  a  subject  of  gratulation  that  it  has 
been  lost,  as  his  fondest  wishes  would  have  led  him  to  lose  it,  in 
the  blaze  which  the  genius  of  his  only  son  has  kindled  about  his 
name. 

Widely  different  from  the  fate  of  Henry  Tazewell  was  that  of 
the  small,  delicate  young  man  by  his  side,  the  last  of  the  trium 
virate,  his  associate  and  friend.  They  were  indeed  to  act  in  uni 
son  with  each  other,  and  in  the  bonds  of  strictest  friendship,  for 
almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  yet  to  come  ;  but,  when  Tazewell  de 
parted,  the  fame  of  that  young  man  had  not  reached  its  zenith. 
He  was  two  years  older  than  Tazewell,  but  not  only  survived  him 
more  than  a  third  of  a  century,  but  saw,  in  the  long  lapse  of  sixty 
years,  every  member  of  the  Convention,  one  by  one,  pass  to  the 
grave.  His  health  had  been  impaired  by  the  zeal  with  which  he  had 
pursued  his  studies  at  Princeton  under  the  fostering  care  of  Wither- 
spoon  ;  and,  although  he  had  taken  his  degree  five  years  before 
and  had  spent  the  interval  in  the  country,  it  had  not  recovered  its 
original  vigor.  If  he  did  not  possess  the  personal  accomplishments 
of  Tazewell,  his  gallant  bearing,  and  that  intuitive  tact  with 
which  he  unconsciously  Avon  the  regards  of  all  with  whom  he 
associated,  there  was  much  about  him  that  \vas  engaging,  and  to  a 
close  observer  prepossessing.  In  stature  he  was  indeed  one  of  the 
smallest  of  men ;  but  his  modest  deportment  which  almost  ap 
proached  a  sensitive  reserve,  his  simple  and  pleasing  address,  and, 


84  JAMES    MADISOX. 

above  all,  his  face  on  which  even  then  might  have  been  slightly 
traced  those  lines  of  benevolence  and  thought  which,  after  an  in 
terval  of  eighty  years,  are  freshly  remembered  by  many  persons 
now  living,  were  soon  observed,  and,  when  once  observed,  made 
a  decided  impression  in  his  favor.  Even  then,  as  in  the  admira 
ble  portrait  of  him  by  Catlin,  taken  five  years  before  his  death, 
might  have  been  seen  that  peak  of  hair  descending  low  in  front  and 
in  its  sudden  retirement  displaying  a  forehead  which  Lavater  or 
Spurzheim  would  have  reverently  touched.*  Added  to  the  vari 
ous  qualifications  of  the  scholar  and  statesman  which,  young  as  he 

*  The  following  memorandum  I  received  from  Gov.  Edward  Coles,  of  Phila 
delphia,  who  submitted  it  for  the  correction  of  Mr.  Madison  which  it  received  : 
"  The  earliest  account  Mr.  Madison  had  of  the  residence  of  his  ancestors  in 
Virginia  was,  that  John  Madison  took  out  a  patent  in  the  year  1653  for  land 
situated  between  "  North  and  York  rivers, "  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake 
Bay.  He  was  the  father  of  John  Madison,  who  was  the  father  of  Ambrose  Madi 
son  who  married  Frances  Taylor,  August  30, 1700,  lived  at  Montpelier  in  Orange 
county,  and  was  the  father  of  James  Madison  who  married  Eleanor  Con  way, 
who  were  the  parents  of  James  Madison,  the  fourth  president  of  the  United 
States,  who  was  born  at  the  house  of  his  maternal  grandmother  at  Port  Conway 
near  Port  Royal  on  the  Rappahannock  river  March  16,  1751.  He  was  sent 
to  school  to  Mr.  Robertson,  a  Scotchman,  in  King  and  Queen  county,  by  whom 
he  was  taught  English,  Latin,  Greek,  French,  Spanish,  &,c.  He  afterwards 
continued  his  studies  at  his  father's  house  in  Orange  county  under  the  tuition 
of  Parson  Martin,  a  Jerseyman  and  brother  of  Gov.  Martin  of  N.  Carolina,  until 
1769,  when  he  went  to  Princeton  College  in  New  Jersey.  There  he  graduated  in 
1771,  having  studied  the  Junior  and  Senior  classes  in  one  year.  He  remained 
in  bad  health  at  Princeton  until  1772,  studying  and  availing  himself  of  the  Col 
legiate  library,  and  friendly  advice  of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  the  president  of  the 
College,  who  took  a  great  liking  to  him.  He  remained  in  bad  health  for  many 
years,  having  an  affection  of  the  breast  and  nerves ;  but  for  which  circumstance 
he  would  have  joined  the  army.  In  the  spring  of  1776  he  was  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia.  He  lost  his  re-election  in  1777  in 
consequence  of  his  refusing  to  treat  and  electioneer.  He  was  elected  by  the 
General  Assembly  in  the  winter  of  1777-8  a  member  of  the  Executive  Coun 
cil  of  Virginia,  and  remained  a  member  of  that  Council  until  the  winter 
of  1779-80,  when  he  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  a  member  of 
Congress,  in  which  body  he  served  until  the  fall  of  1783.  He  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  in  the  spring  of  1734 
and  again  in  1785.  He  was  elected  in  1786  a  member  of  Congress  by 
the  General  Assembly,  and  also  to  the  Annapolis  Convention ;  and  in  1787 
he  was  elected  to  the  Philadelphia  Convention  which  made  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  U.  S.,  and  in  1788  to  the  Virginia  Convention  which  ratified 
it  on  the  part  of  that  state.  He  remained  in  Congress  from  1786  to  March 
1797.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  in  the 
spring  of  1798  ;  an  elector  of  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  U.  S.  in 
1800;  appointed  by  president  Jefferson  Secretary  of  State  of  the  U.  S.  in 
1801 ;  and  elected  President  of  the  United  States  in  1808,  and  again  in  1812." 
"  To  this  should  now  be  added,  that  he  was  elected  in  1829  to  the  Convention 
which  met  at  Richmond  to  amend  the  Virginia  constitution.  And  it  may  be 
interesting  further  to  add,  that  Zachary  Taylor,  who  was  elected  president  of  the 
United  States  in  1848,  was  of  the  family  of  Frances  Taylor  who  married  Am 
brose  Madison  as  above  stated,  and  in  that  way  was  a  relation  of  Mr.  Madison. 
In  September  1794  Mr.  Madison  married  Mrs.  D.  P.  Todd,  whose  maiden 


JAMES    MADISON.  85 

was,  he  possessed  to  an  amazing  extent,  there  was  an  exquisite 
sense  of  humor,  an  almost  inseparable  concomitant  of  high  genius, 
which,  it  may  be  mentioned  as  a  trait  of  character,  though  sensi 
bly  felt  and  admired  in  conversation,  and  which  was  to  be  detected 
in  the  demure  caste  of  his  flexile  lips,  was  so  effectually  con 
trolled  as  never  to  appear  in  any  ofv  the  written  compositions  of  a 
long  life,  nor  in  the  spontaneous  effusions  of  public  discussion. 
Such  was  the  wealth  of  his  mind,  that,  as  if  he  thought  that  in  the 
discussion  of  public  questions  no  other  weapons  were  necessary 
than  those  with  which  truth  and  reason  supplied  him,  he  could 
hold  in  abeyance  a  faculty,  which,  of  itself,  built  up  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  reputations  of  the  last  half  century,  and  which  none 
could  have  wielded  with  more  masterly  skill  than  himself.  Nor 
did  his  love  of  humor  forsake  him  in  his  old  age.  During  the  last 
year  of  his  life,  when  visited  by  two  eminent  men,  his  friends  and 
neighbors,  as  he  resumed  his  recumbent  position  on  the  couch  from 
which  he  had  risen  to  receive  them,  he  apologised  for  so  doing, 
observing  with  a  smile:  "  I  always  talk  more  easily  when  I  lie.* 
In  the  Convention  now  sitting  he  took  his  station,  as  it  were  at 
once,  by  the  side  of  the  first  men  of  the  body,  and  though  a  new 
member,  and  a  most  youthful  one,  undistinguished  by  descent  or 
wealth,  and  though  not  present  at  its  organization,  he  was  placed 

name  was  Payne.  The  family  was  from  Virginia,  but  had  for  several  years 
resided  in  Philadelphia." 

"  Mr.  Madison  died  on  the  28th  of  June,  1836,  and  was  interred  by  the 
side  of  his  father  and  mother  in  the  family  graveyard  at  his  seat  called  Mont- 
pelier." 

"  In  his  dress  he  was  not  at  all  eccentric,  or  given  to  dandyism  ;  but  always 
appeared  neat  and  genteel,  and  in  the  costume  of  a  well-bred  and  tasty  old 
school  gentleman.  I  have  heard  in  early  life  he  sometimes  wore  light-colored 
clothes  ;  but  from  the  time  I  first  knew  him,  which  was  when  he  visited  at 
my  father's  when  I  was  a  child,  never  knew  him  to  wear  any  other  color  than 
black ;  his  coat  being  cut  in  what  is  termed  dress-fashion  ;  his  breeches  short, 
with  buckles  at  the  knees,  black  silk  stockings,  and  shoes  with  strings  or  long 
fair  top  boots  when  out  in  cold  weather,  or  when  he  rode  on  horseback  of  which 
he  was  fond.  His  hat  was  of  the  shape  and  fashion  usually  worn  by  gentlemen 
of  his  age.  He  wore  powder  on  his  hair,  which  was  dressed  full  over  the  ears, 
tied  behind,  and  brought  to  a  point  above  the  forehead,  to  cover  in  some  degree 
his  baldness,  as  may  be  noticed  in  all  the  likenesses  taken  of  him.  This  calls 
to  mind  your  inquiry  as  to  what  likeness  of  him  I  consider  the  best.  Stuart's 
has  always  been  so  considered,  and  I  have,  I  presume,  the  best  he  ever  took, 
as  it  is  an  original  one  taken  for  Mr.  Madison  in  1803  or  '4.  The  likeness  by 
Longacre,  taken  in  1833,  is  an  excellent  one  of  him  at  that  time.  The  features 
and  expression  in  his  likeness,  I  think,  are  more  accurate  and  faithful  of  him  in 
the  83rd  year  of  his  age,  than  likenesses  taken  of  him  at  an  earlier  period." 

*  I  have  heard  the  Hon.  W.  C.  Rives  tell  this  incident  with  fine  effect. 


86  JAMES    MADISON. 

with  his  friends  Tazewell  and  Randolph  on  the  grand  committee 
for  drafting  a  declaration  of  rights  and  a  plan  of  government.  It 
was  impossible  to  converse  with  him  in  the  intervals  of  business, 
or  at  an  evening  party,  without  feeling  that  he  deserved  the  com 
pliment  which  the  great  critic  of  Greece  paid,  as  a  mark  of  im 
mortality,  to  the  Jewish  law-giver,  but  which  has  since  degene 
rated  into  common -place,  that  he  was  no  common  man.  The  pre 
cision  and  purity  cf  his  speech,  his  familiarity  with  topics  beyond 
the  reach  not  only  of  ordinary  young  men  but  of  reputable  states 
men,  the  richness  and  beauty,  and,  especially,  the  appositeness  and 
force  of  his  illustrations  drawn  from  ancient  and  modern  history, 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  social  circle.  For,  as  yet,  he  had 
not  engaged  in  public  debate ;  nor  was  it  until  he  had  served  in 
the  House  of  Delegates  and  in  the  Congress,  that  he  participated 
in  discussion ;  but,  when  once  he  had  essayed  his  strength,  he 
never  fell  back,  and  thenceforth  displayed  talents  for  business  and 
debate  rarely  surpassed.  How  it  wrould  have  cheered  the  hearts 
and  have  given  fresh  animation  to  the  purposes  of  that  assem 
bly,  if,  at  that  hour  of  trial  and  suspense,  when  a  war  with  the 
most  formidable  nation  of  the  world  was  actually  raging  round 
them,  they  could  have  read  the  future  history  of  that  young  man  ! 
—could  they  have  known  that  he,  young,  delicate,  unpretending 
as  he  was,  the  son  of  a  plain  Orange  planter,  was  destined  to  live 
to  see  a  constitution,  to  be  made  by  their  hands,  flourish  for  more 
than  half  a  century ;  that  mainly  through  his  efforts,  a  massive 
church-establishment,  which  for  almost  two  centuries  had  been  the 
minister  of  peace  and  holy  joy  to  some  of  the  greatest  and  purest 
men  who  had  lived  during  that  time,  and  of  persecution,  torture 
and  death  to  others  equally  as  good  and  equally  as  great,  should 
topple  to  its  downfall ;  that  he  would  become  a  member  of  the 
Congress  of  a  Confederation,  in  the  framing  of  which  he  was  to- 
render  essential  aid,  yet  to  be  formed,  which  would  bear  the  coun 
try  triumphantly  through  the  war ;  that  he  would  assist  in  the  rati 
fication  of  a  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  which  would  acknowledge 
the  independence  of  the  States,  and  establish  peace  within  their 
borders ;  that  he  would  be  appointed  a  member  of  a  Convention 
which  would  form  a  federal  constitution,  and  of  a  Convention,, 
which,  in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  Virginia,  would  ratify  it,  and 
that  he  would  perform  a  distinguished  part  in  both  bodies;  that 


JAMES    MADISON.  87 

under  that  system  his  country  was  destined  to  become  one  of  the 
most  powerful  nations  of  the  globe  ;  that  he  should  be  chosen  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  under  the  new  system, 
and  extend  efficient  aid  in  putting  that  system  into  operation ;  that 
in  the  fullness  of  time  he  should  become  under  that* government 
the  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  President  of  the  United  States ; 
that  he  should  declare  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain,  and, 
when  he  had  broken  the  spell  of  British  invincibility  on  the  sea, 
should  ratify  another  treaty  of  peace  with  that  haughty  power  ; 
that  he  should  preside  in  his  retirement  from  high  office  in  a  noble 
University  called  into  existence  by  his  native  state ;  that  he  should 
be  summoned  in  extreme  old  age,  his  faculties  yet  unimpaired,  af 
ter  the  lapse  of  more  than  half  a  century,  to  revise  the  constitution 
which  the  Convention  now  sitting  was  about  to  form  ;  that  sixty 
years  from  that  time,  and  on  the  sixtieth  anniversary  of  the  day  on 
which  they  were  to  adopt  their  constitution,  he  should  descend  to 
the  grave  ;*  that  a  nation  of  fourteen  millions  of  people,  stretching 
from  the  Northern  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  from  the  At 
lantic  to  the  Pacific,  should  testify  their  grief  by  the  flowing  of 
tears,  by  the  tolling  of  bells,  by  the  thunders  of  artillery,  by  the 
stately  march  of  funereal  processions  such  as  in  the  Old  World 
only  commemorate  the  obsequies  of  kings,  and  by  eulogies  from 
the  lips  of  their  most  eloquent  men ;  and  that  the  settler  in  his 
cabin  beyond  the  Mississippi  and  by  the  waters  of  the  Oregon, 
the  teacher  in  his  school,  the  mechanic  in  his  shop,  the  sailor  on 
the  deck,  the  professor  from  his  chair,  the  priest  at  the  altar,  the 
statesman  in  the  senate,  and  the  grave  historian  with  his  awful 
style  in  his  hand,  should  pronounce  with  one  accord  that  the  syno 
nym  of  private  and  public  virtue,  of  exalted  statesmanship,  and  of 
true  glory,  was  to  be  found — then  and  thenceforth — in  the  name 
of  JAMES  MADISON.! 

The  points  of  connexion  between  Madison,  Randolph,  and  Taze- 
well  are  more  numerous  and  more  conspicuous  than  are  usually 

*  The  Convention  practically  adopted  the  constitution  on  the  28th  of  June, 
and  appointed  the  next  day  for  making  the  elections  called  for  by  the  instrument; 
the  last  reading  on  the  29th  being  merely  a  matter  of  form.  Mr.  Madison  died 
on  the  28th  of  June,  1836. 

f  Perhaps  the  highest  compliment  Mr.  Madison  ever  received  was  that  pro 
nounced  by  his  great  antagonist  in  federal  politics,  John  Marshall,  that  "  he 
was  the  model  of  the  American  statesman."  This  is  on  the  authority  of  C.  J. 
Ingersoll. 


88  MADISON,    RANDOLPH   AND  TAZEWELL. 

seen  in  the  lives  of  eminent  contemporaries.  Randolph  and  Taze- 
well  were  residents  of  this  city,  were  students  of  this  institution, 
and  were  well  known  to  each  other.  Madison  had  studied  at 
Princeton,  and  was  not  generally  known  here  until  he  appeared  in 
the  Convention.  All  three  may  be  said  to  have  begun  their  public 
life  with  the  session  of  the  Convention,  though,  strictly  speaking, 
Tazewell  had  sat  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  at  its  last  session. 
From  this  date  they  engaged  in  the  generous  contest  for  reputation 
and  for  public  honors,  and  gallantly  did  they  put  forth  their  fine 
qualities  until  near  the  close  of  the  century,  when  Randolph  with 
drew  altogether  from  public  life,  and  when  Tazewell,  his  arm  never 
more  vigorous,  his  spirit  never  more  eager,  clad  in  full  panoply,  and 
in  the  front  of  the  fight,  fell  on  a  distant  field.  All  three  were  im 
mediately  placed  on  the  grand  committee  for  drafting  a  declaration 
of  rights  and  the  constitution, — a  signal  honor  for  men  so  young. 
Randolph  was  elected  by  the  body  the  first  Attorney  General  of 
the  new  Commonwealth.  Madison  and  Tazewell  were  returned  to 
the  first  House  of  Delegates  under  the  new  Constitution,  Randolph, 
who  held  his  appointment  as  Attorney  General,  soon  to  become  its 
Clerk.  At  the  next  session  Madison  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Council ;  Tazewell  kept  his  post  in  the  House,  and  Randolph  the 
Attorney  Generalship.  Randolph  was  the  first  of  the  triumvirate 
to  go  abroad,  having  been  sent  to  Congress  in  1779,  whither  he 
was  followed  the  year  after  by  Madison.  In  1785  Tazewell,  who 
had  held  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Delegates  continuously  near  ten 
years,  was  elected  a  judge  of  the  General  Court,  and  under  the  ex 
isting  law  became  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  Madison  now  re 
turning  to  the  House  of  Delegates,  and  Randolph  soon  after  having 
been  elected  Governor.  All  of  them  approved  a  revision  of  the  Ar 
ticles  of  Confederation,  Madison  and  Randolph  having  been  deputed 
to  the  Convention  at  Annapolis,  and  to  the  General  Convention  in 
Philadelphia,  and  Tazewell,  who,  foreseeing  the  protracted  sessions 
of  the  body,  and  unable  to  leave  his  seat  on  the  bench  for  the  third 
of  a  year  without  manifest  injury  to  individuals  and  to  the  public, 
remaining  at  home.*  In  the  discussion,  of  the  General  Convention 
both  Madison  and  Randolph  were  conspicuous;  Randolph,  however, 

*Mr.  Wythe  tried  the  experiment  of  leaving  his  court  but  was  soon  compelled 
to  return.  I  have  lately  heard  from  Gov.  Tazewell  that  Mr.  Wythe  returned 
in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his  wife. 


89 

bringing  forth  a  scheme,  which,  it  is  believed,  was  concocted  be 
tween  them,  which  prescribed  a  form  of  government  self-acting  and 
complete  within  itself,  and  which  was  in  substance  ultimately 
adopted  ;  and  though  Randolph  differed  from  Madison  and  voted 
against  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  in  the  Convention  which 
framed  it,  while  Madison  strenuously  upheld  it,  both  sustained  that 
instrument  in  the  Virginia  Convention  which  was  summoned  to 
pass  upon  it;  Tazewell,  though  not  a  member  of  the  latter  body, 
being  opposed  to  its  ratification.  The  papers  of  Madison,  published 
by  Congress,  attest  the  close  and  long-continued  correspondence  on 
political  subjects  that  was  carried  on  by  Madison  and  Randolph, 
and  reveal  some  traits  of  the  times  not  to  be  seen  elsewhere.  On 
the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  all  three  of  these  young 
men  embraced  the  same  rules  for  the  adjustment  and  interpretation 
of  its  powers,  Madison  taking  his  seat  in  the  first  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  Randolph,  who  had  recently  retired  from  the  office 
of  Governor,  his  seat  in  the  Cabinet  of  Washington  as  the  first 
Attorney  General ;  Tazewell,  who  was  shortly  after  called  to  the 
Court  of*  Appeals  under  the  recent  law,  not  taking  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  until  the  close  of  the  first  administration;  all  three,  however, 
having  coincided  with  each  other  from  the  beginning  on  the  great 
questions  of  constitutional  law  and  public  policy  to  which  the  estab 
lishment  and  the  administration  of  the  new  government  gave  rise. 
Randolph,  having  succeeded  Mr.  Jefferson  as  Secretary  of  State, 
withdrew  finally  in  1795  from  the  federal  arena,  and  devoted  the 
remainder  of  his  life  to  the  practice  of  the  law,  Tazewell  and  Mad 
ison,  one  in  the  Senate,  the  other  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
leading  the  van  in  the  contests  in  which  their  party  was  engaged. 
In  1799  Tazewell  was  suddenly  cut  off,  but  not  until  he  held  a  po 
sition  which  placed  him  in  advance  of  his  friendly  rivals  and  asso 
ciates.  To  be  chosen  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
is  indeed  a  great  honor,  but  to  be  elected  by  Senators  to  preside  in 
the  body  is,  perhaps,  the  highest  individual  honor  within  the 
scope  of  our  government.*  By  the  side  of  such  a  distinction,  a 
mere  executive  appointment,  however  exalted,  sinks  in  the  com 
parison.  Thus  was  the  field  left  to  Madison,  who,  delicate  as  he 
was  in  youth  and  indeed  throughout  life,  and  averse  from  that 

*  Judge  Tazewell  was  twice  elected  president  of  the  Senate.     Thirty-seven 
years  later  his  son  was  elected  to  the  same  office. 


90  ARCHIBALD    GARY. 

training  which  is  believed  to  impart  stability  to  health,  survived 
Randolph  near  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  Tazewell  more  than  a 
third.* 

Yet,  however  brilliant  were  Madison  and  Randolph  and  Tazewell, 
and  full  of  promise,  they  were  in  the  midst  of  men,  who  had  ruled 
the  destinies  of  the  colony  before  they  were  born,  who  were  now 
in  the  full  possession  of  their  faculties,  and  who  were  for  a  long 
time  to  come  yet  to  lead  the  deliberations  of  the  house.  There  are 
two  men,  not  far  from  each  other  you  perceive,  who  began  their 
career  about  the  same  time,  who  resided  not  far  from  each  other  on 
opposite  banks  of  the  James,  who  pursued  their  youthful  studies 
within  the  walls  of  your  institution,  who  in  all  the  perplexing  con 
tests  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  previous  to  the  Revolution  stood 
side  by  side,  who  were  to  assist  in  the  public  councils  either  at 
home  or  abroad  throughout  the  war,  and  who  survived  to  behold 
the  establishment  of  independence.  Here,  within  this  sanctuary, 
whose  floor  has  often  echoed  their  youthful  tread,  let  their  names 
be  pronounced  with  gratitude  and  praise.  I  allude  to  ARCHIBALD 
GARY  of  Ampthill  in  the  county  of  Chesterfield,  and  to  BENJAMIN 
HARRISON  of  Berkeley  in  the  county  of  Charles  City.  One  of  them, 
you  see,  is  much  taller  than  the  other.  Harrison  was  six  feet  high, 
of  large  dimensions,  and  of  a  florid  aspect ;  while  his  compatriot 
Gary  barely  reached  the  middle  stature,  was  compactly  built,  and 
was  of  such  capacity  of  physical  endurance  as  to  have  received 
partly  on  that  account  but  mainly  from  his  indomitable  courage  the 
soubriquet  of  "Old  Iron."*  The  face  of  Gary  in  youth  was  re 
markably  handsome  ;  his  features  small  and  delicately  chiselled  ; 
his  eye  of  that  peculiar  brightness  which  may  yet  be  seen  in  all  his 
race.  His  portrait,  painted  by  the  elder  Peale,  may  be  seen  in  the 

*It  is  curious  to  observe  that  neither  Tazewell  nor  Randolph  ever  lost  an 
election,  while  Madison  was  defeated  in  his  election  as  a  candidate  for  the 
House  of  Delegates  in  1777,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  of  the  first  Congress, 
and  as  a  candidate  for  the  same  office  in  1795  when  Tazewell  was  elected ;  butin 
this  last  mentioned  instance  it  is  certain  that  his  name  was  put  forth  rather  in 
the  spirit  of  opposition  than  with  a  view  of  securing  his  election,  as  the  regular 
candidate  of  the  party  enjoyed  from  first  to  last  its  entire  confidence.  It  may 
be  mentioned  that  Tazewell  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Recorder  of  the  Borough 
of  Norfolk  which  Sir  John  Randolph  filled  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Edmund  Randolph. 

*  It  is  probable  that,  as  Col.  Gary  had  an  iron  furnace  and  a  manufacturing 
mill  on  the  site  of  the  old  furnace  on  Falling  Creek  established  by  John  Barkly, 
who  was  murdered  there  with  all  his  men  by  the  Indians  on  the  22nd  of  March, 
1622,  this  circumstance  might  have  suggested  the  name  of  Old  Iron.  His 
mills  were  burned  by  the  British  during  Arnold's  invasion. 


ARCHIBALD    GARY.  91 

parlor  of  his  grandson  in  the  county  of  Cumberland.*  In  form  and 
temperament,  his  grandson,  the  late  Governor  Thomas  Mann  Ran 
dolph,  is  said  to  have  borne  a  near  resemblance  to  him.  He  had 
many  of  those  qualities  which  were  congenial  to  the  tastes  of  the 
colonial  aristocracy ;  for  his  ancestors  had  not  only  emigrated  as 
early  as  1640  to  the  colony,  but  were  unquestionably  of  noble  ex 
traction.  His  ancestor,  Miles  Gary,  had  sat  in  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  more  than  a  century  before  the  passage  of  the  resolutions 
against  the  stamp  act.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Henry  Lord 
Hunsdon,  and  was  himself  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  heir  appa 
rent  of  the  barony .t  He  delighted  in  blooded  horses  and  in  im 
proved  breeds  of  stock  which  he  imported  with  patriotic  views, 
and  was  most  systematic  and  successful  as  a  planter.  But  it  was 
not  his  physical  prowess,  his  noble  blood,  or  his  agricultural  skill, 
which  gave  him  the  decided  preponderance  which  for  five  and 
twenty  years  he  held  in  the  councils  of  the  colony  and  of  the  Com 
monwealth.  He  entered  the  House  of  Burgesses  at  an  early  age, 
eoon  became  intimately  acquainted  with  its  forms,  and  rose  into  the 
front  rank  of  men  who  were  ever  the  first  of  any  assembly  to  which 
they  belonged.  In  1764  he  had  attained  to  such  eminence,  that  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  of  nine  to  which  was  assigned 
the  duty  of  preparing  memorials  to  the  king,  to  the  lords,  and  to  the 
commons;  t  and  in  1765,  for  the  reasons  stated  in  the  case  of  Pen- 
dleton  and  Bland,  voted  against  the  resolutions  of  Henry.  In  1766 
it  was  on  his  motion  that  Peyton  Randolph  was  elected  speaker  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses  as  the  successor  of  Col.  Robinson,  in  oppo 
sition  to  Col.  Bland  who  was  nominated  and  eloquently  sustained 
by  Richard  Henry  Lee.  In  1770  he  was  a  member  of  the  mercan 
tile  association  consisting  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 
and  the  leading  merchants,  which  was  organized  to  resist  the 
stamp  act  by  practical  measures,  and  his  name  stands  fifth  on  a  list 
which  records  the  patriotism  of  Washington,  Pendleton,  Wythe, 
Nicholas,  Bland,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Eyre,  Barraud,  Thomas  New 
ton,  Anthony  VValke,  John  Hutchings,  Paul  Carrington,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  and  of  other  gallant  spirits  who  were  foremost  in  resisting 

"John  Gary  Page,  Esq. 

|For  the  family  of  Gary  see  Burke's  Commoners,  "Gary  of  Fullerton." 

JThe   committee  consisted  of  Peyton  Randolph,  R.  H.  Lee,  Landon  Carter, 
Wythe,  Pendleton,  B.  Harrison.  Gary,  Fleming  and  R.  Bland. 


92  ARCHIBALD    CART. 

the  attacks  upon  the  liberties  of  the  colony.  In  1773  he  was  one  of 
the  eleven  who  composed  the  celebrated  Committee  of  Correspon 
dence,  and  in  August  1774  was  a  member  of  the  first  Convention 
of  Virginia,  which  met  in  this  city,  and  which  appointed  delegates 
to  the  Congress  which  assembled  in  Philadelphia  the  month  fol 
lowing,  and  was  duly  returned  to  the  other  Conventions  which  were 
held  until  the  state  government  was  established.  In  the  Conven 
tion  of  1776  now  sitting  his  position  was  one  of  the  highest  dis 
tinction.  As  chairman  of  the  house  in  Committee  of  the  whole,  he 
reported  the  resolution  instructing  the  delegates  in  Congress  to 
propose  independence,  and  when  the  committee  was  appointed  to 
prepare  a  declaration  of  rights  and  a  plan  of  government,  and  which 
consisted  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  body,  he  was  placed  at  its  head, 
and  reported  those  measures  to  the  house.  It  was  from  his  lips  that 
the  words  of  the  resolution  of  independence,  of  the  declaration  of 
rights,  and  of  the  first  constitution  of  Virginia  first  fell  upon  the 
public  ear.  Rarely  has  it  been  the  fortune  of  a  statesman  to  connect 
himself  so  intimately  in  so  brief  a  space  with  three  such  important 
measures  in  the  history  of  a  nation.  On  the  organization  of  the 
state  government  he  was  returned  to  the  Senate,  and  became  the 
first  speaker  of  that  body,  performing  the  duties  of  the  office  with 
a  readiness  which  from  his  long  and  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
proceedings  of  public  bodies  seemed  intuitive,  and  with  a  dignity 
and  elegance  which  tradition  has  delighted  to  commemorate.  It 
was  while  he  was  speaker  of  the  Senate  that  a  thrilling  incident  in 
said  to  have  occurred,  which,  even  if  apochryphal,  shows  in  a 
striking  manner  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  contem 
poraries.  The  scheme  of  a  dictator,  according  to  Girardin,  was 
talked  of  in  the  Assembly,  then  sitting  (1776)  in  this  city;  and  i 
is  alleged  that  the  friends  of  the  measure  were  in  favor  of  Patrick 
Henry  for  the  office.  Bitterly  opposed  to  such  a  scheme,  and 
under  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  Col.  Gary  met  Col.  Syme, 
the  half  brother  of  Henry,  in  the  lobby  of  the  house,  and  accosted 
him:  "Sir,  I  am  told  that  your  brother  wishes  to  be  dictator — Tell 
him  from  me,  that  the  day  of  his  appointment  shall  be  the  day  of 
his  death;  for  he  shall  find  my  dagger  in  his  heart  before  the  sunset 
of  that  day."  So  far  as  the  existence  of  such  a  project  is  concerned, 
it  is  proper  to  observe  that  the  journals  of  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Delegates  are  wholly  silent ;  but  they  contain  resolutions  conferring 


ARCHIBALD    GARY.  93 

large  powers  upon  the  Governor  and  Council,  and  instructing  the 
delegates  in  Congress  to  propose  to  that  body  the  propriety  of  in 
vesting  Gen.  Washington  with  powers  almost  dictatorial,  which  the 
Congress  at  an  early  day  assented  to.  We  must  be  careful  in 
forming  our  opinions  upon  such  questions  to  place  ourselves  in 
the  point  of  view  occupied  by  the  statesmen  of  that  day  ;  to  call  to 
mind  the  crisis  that  was  impending;  to  remember  that  the  House 
of  Delegates,  when  its  members  had  just  escaped  the  sabres  of 
Tarleton's  cavalry,  and  when  Col.  Gary  himself  was  speaker  of  the 
Senate,  did  pass  a  resolution  authorising  a  number  of  the  members 
less  than  a  majority  of  the  whole  house  to  constitute  a  quorum,  thus 
surrendering  the  powers  of  the  house  not  to  one  dictator  but  to 
more  than  one ;  and  that  during  almost  the  entire  period  of  the 
Revolution,  South  Carolina,  who  had  formed  a  plan  of  government 
before  Virginia  had  adopted  her  constitution,  invested  her  Execu 
tive  with  the  very  powers  which  it  is  alleged  some  of  our  politicians 
were  anxious  to  confer  upon  our  own  Executive.* 

This  distinguished  man  remained  in  the  senate  as  its  presiding 
officer  until  1786.  when  he  died  at  Ampthill,  where  his  ashes  now 
repose.  The  career  of  Col.  Gary  was  confined  to  Virginia,  and 
though  ,his  reputation  is  almost  unknown  to  the  reader  of  general 
history,  the  various  and  responsible  services  which  he  rendered  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  to  his  native  state,  his  fervid  patriotism, 
which  impelled  him  onward  when  others  shrunk  back  appalled,  and 
his  serene  intrepidity,  afford  imperishable  titles  to  the  love  and 
gratitude  of  coming  generations.! 

"On  this  subject  see  Wirt's  Henry  222  and  248;  Girardin's  continuation  of 
Burk,  written  under  the  eye  of  Mr.  Jefferson  who  endorses  in  his  autobiograph 
ical  sketch  (Memoirs  vol.  1)  so  much  of  the  work  as  treats  of  his  own  state- 
administration,  page  189 ;  and  Jefferson's  Notes  Query  XIII.  Constitution. 
Those  who  may  have  had  glimpses  of  the  secret  history  of  this  epoch  may  well 
believe  that  some  spicy  discussions  are  yet  to  appear  upon  this  subject. 

t  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  in  my  possession  will  be  read  with 
some  interest  by  the  student  of  William  and  Mary  as  well  as  others  : 

"Miles  Gary,  the  son  of  John  Gary  of  Bristol,  England,  came  to  Virginia 
in  1640,  and  settled  in  the  county  of  Warwick,  which  in  1659  he  represented 
in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  In  1667  he  died,  leaving  four  sons.  His  second 
son,  Henry,  was  appointed  on  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Wil- 
liamsburg  superintendant  of  the  Capitol  and  other  public  buildings  to  be  erect 
ed  there.  His  son  Henry  (the  father  of  Archibald)  was  also  appointed  in  due 
time  to  superintend  the  rebuilding  of  the  College  of  William  and  Mary,  where 
on  the  31st  of  July  1732  the  first  live  bricks  of  the  President's  house  were  laid 
by  James  Blair,  the  President,  Bartholomew  Yates,  William  Dawson,  William 
Stith,  (the  historian,)  and  John  Fox  professors,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Gary. 
Mr.  C.  married  Mary  a  daughter  of  Richard  Randolph  of  Curls,  county  of  Hen- 


94  BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 

With  Archibald  Gary  was  intimately  associated  in  the  councils 
of  the  Colony  and  of  the  Commonwealth  BENJAMIN  HARRISON  of 
Berkeley,  his  neighbor  and  his  friend.  He,  too,  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses  at  an  early  period,  was  a  member  of  the 
committee  of  1764  which  prepared  the  memorials  to  the  king,  to 
the  lords,  and  to  the  commons  of  England,  a  member  of  the  House 
in  1765,  and,  like  Gary,  and  on  the  same  grounds,  opposed  the 
resolutions  of  Henry ;  a  member  of  the  Mercantile  Association  of 
1770;  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence;  and  a  mem 
ber  of  all  the  Conventions  held  until  the  government  under  the 
Constitution  was  established.  In  the  Convention  of  March  1775, 
from  the  considerations  which  swayed  Nicholas,  Bland,  Pendleton, 
and  others,  he  joined  with  Gary  in  opposing  the  resolutions  of  Henry 
for  putting  the  colony  into  a  "posture  of  defence,"  but  was  ap 
pointed  one  of  the  committee  of  twelve  to  carry  those  resolutions 
into  effect.  In  1774  Harrison  was  appointed  one  of  the  seven 
delegates  to  the  first  Congress,  and  was  elected  four  times  to  a 
seat  in  that  body.  If  Archibald  Gary  reported  to  the  Virginia  Con 
vention  the  resolution  instructing  the  delegates  in  Congress  to 
propose  independence,  Harrison,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Whole  in  Congress,  reported  to  that  body  the  resolution  that 
declared  the  colonies  free  and  independent,  and  subsequently  in  the 
same  capacity  the  great  Declaration  itself,  which  in  due  time  he 
signed,  thus  recording  his  name  on  a  charter  compared  with  which 
the  roll  of  Battle  Abbey  is  but  the  plaything  of  pride  and  folly. 
If  Gary  was  chosen  to  preside  in  the  Senate  of  Virginia,  Harrison 
was  called  to  the  chair  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  and  would  have 
been  elected  to  the  chair  of  Congress  as  the  successor  of  his 
brother-in-law  Peyton  Randolph,  but  that  from  motives  of  the 
nicest  delicacy  and  of  the  loftiest  patriotism  he  insisted  that  his 
name  should  be  withdrawn  in  favor  of  John  Hancock,  who  was 
accordingly  elected.*  It  was  on  his  return  from  Congress  that  he 

rico,  and  left  five  daughters,  married  to  Thomas  Mann  Randolph  of  Tuckahoe, 
Thomas  Isham  Randolph  of  Dungeness,  Archibald  Boiling,  Carter  Page,  and 
Joseph  Kincade.  Col.  A.  Cary  died  at  Ampthill  in  September  1786." 

*  It  is  reported,  too  broadly  perhaps,  that  when  Hancock,  who  had  but  re 
cently  taken  his  seat  in  Congress,  was  reluctant  to  accept  the  chair,  Harrison, 
who  was  remarkably  athletic,  took  him  up  in  his  arms,  and  placed  him  in  it, 
declaring  at  the  same  time  :  "  We  will  show  mother  Britain  how  little  we  care 
for  her  by  making  a  Massachusetts  man  our  president,  whom  she  has  excluded 
from  pardon  by  a  public  proclamation." 

Our  limits  prevent  a  full  enumeration  of  the   important  posts  held   by   Col. 


BENJAMIN  HARRISON.  95 

entered  the  House  of  Delegates,  of  which  he  was  chosen  Speaker 
— an  office  which  he  filled  until  1781,  when  he  was  elected  Go 
vernor  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  first 
Council  of  State,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  which 
ratified  the  federal  constitution,  casting  his  vote  against  it.  He 
died  in  April  1791  at  his  residence  in  Charles  City. 

Of  all  the  ancient  families  in  the  Colony,  that  of  Harrison,  if 
not  the  oldest,  is  one  of  the  oldest.  The  original  ancestor  some 
time  before  the  year  1645  had  come  over  to  the  colony  ;  but,  as 
his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  list  of  the  early  patentees  re 
corded  by  Burk,  it  is  probable  that  he  bought  land  already  pa 
tented,  or  may  have  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  The  first 
born  of  the  name  in  the  colony  of  whom  we  have  a  distinct  record, 
was  Benjamin  Harrison  who  became  a  member  of  the  Council,  and 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  died  in  Southwark 
Parish  in  the  county  of  Surry  in  1712,  in  his  sixty  second  year.* 
And  from  1645  to  this  date,  a  period  of  more  than  two  centuries,  the 
name  has  been  distinguished  for  the  patriotism,  the  intelligence, 
and  the  moral  worth  of  those  who  have  borne  it.  Berkeley,  or,  as 
our  ancestors  spelt  and  spoke  the  word,  "  Barkley,"  and  Brandon 
were  almost  as  familiar  names  two  centuries  ago  as  they  are 
now,  and  as  RufFord  and  Stowe  were  to  the  colonists  in  the 
time  of  Charles  the  second.  If  Gary  could  trace  his  lineage  to 
the  British  nobility,  Harrison  could  boast  of  a  relationship  which 
at  a  later  day  eclipsed  that  of  his  friend  and  compeer;  for,  though 
not  lineally  descended  from  Col.  Harrison  who  sat  in  the  council 

Harrison  in  Congress.  He  was  throughout  his  long  term  of  service  almost  in 
variably  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  especially  while  the 
articles  of  Confederation  were  under  discussion.  He  was  one  of  a  committee 
of  three  sent  to  Washington  at  Cambridge  to  concert  plans  for  the  supply  of 
his  army.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Board  of  War,  and  of  the  Committee  of 
Foreign  Affairs  until  a  bureau  was  formed  with  a  secretary  at  its  head.  He 
was  sent  by  Congress  on  a  mission  to  Maryland  to  concert  with  the  Executive 
of  that  Colony  a  scheme  for  the  defense  of  the  Cheseapeake.  He  was  sent 
to  New  York  to  arrange  with  Gen.  Lee  a  plan  of  defense  lor  that  city  and  for 
the  selection  of  sites  for  forts  on  the  East  and  North  rivers.  He  was  al-:o 
chairman  ot  the  committee  on  Marine  Affairs,  which  included  the  regulation 
of  the  Navy.  He  was  the  chairman  of  the  Canada  expedition  committee.  In 
deed  the  numerous  and  important  trusts  committed  to  him  during  his  prolonged 
term  show  the  unlimited  confidence  placed  in  his  military  skill,  practical  sense, 
and  unflinching  patriotism. 

*  The  probability  is  that  B.  Harrison,  the  eldest,  was  a  son  of  Hermon  Har 
rison,  who  came  over  in  what  was  called  the  "  Second  Supply"  to  Virginia, 
(see  Smith's  Hist,  of  Va.  Rice's  edition  Vol.  I.  203,)  or  of  Master  John  Harri 
son  who  was  Governor  in  1623,  Smith's  History  Vol.  II.  165. 


96  BENJAMIN   IIARRISON. 

which  condemned  Charles  the  first  to  the  block,  was  connected 
collaterally  with  him ;  and,  if  he  was  not  to  tread  in  his  footsteps 
in  consigning  a  king  to  the  scaffold,  he  was  destined  to  act  a  promi 
nent  part  in  sundering  the  dominions  of  one  of  his  successors  on  the 
throne  of  Britain.  The  distinctive  merits  of  Harrison,  though  he 
both  wrote  and  spoke  readily  and  ably,  lay  not  so  much  in  his  strict 
ly  intellectual  qualities,  as  in  the  force  of  his  character,  his  practical 
sense,  his  fearlessness,  and  his  love  of  country.  Great  presence 
of  mind,  a  temper  whose  cheerfulness  the  innumerable  vexations 
of  a  civil  war  could  not  cloud,  and  his  downright  candor  which 
knew  no  compromise,  and  which  led  him  to  say  plain  things  in 
plain  words,  were  also  among  his  leading  characteristics.  Hence 
the  positions  which  he  held  in  Congress  ;  in  military  affairs,  the  dif 
ficult  and  delicate  missions  on  which  he  was  despatched  to  Cam 
bridge,  to  Maryland,  and  to  New  York,  the  duties  of  which  he 
discharged  with  the  unanimous  approval  of  Congress,  and  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  his  native  state,  which  more  than  once  ac 
knowledged  their  warm  sense  of  the  value  of  his  public  services.* 
I  have  alluded  to  his  cheerfulness  in  times  of  trial.  Even  on  the 
gravest  occasions  his  humor  sometimes  moved  the  mirth  of  his 
associates.  He  was  a  very  large  man,  and  by  the  side  of  Elbridge 
Gerry,  who  was  very  spare,  he  was  almost  a  giant ;  and  overlook 
ing  Gerry  as  he  affixed  his  name  to  the  declaration  of  independence 
which  he  had  previously  signed,  observed  to  him  :  "  Gerry,  when 
the  time  of  hanging  comes,  I  shall  have  the  advantage  of  you ;  it 
will  be  over  with  me  in  a  minute,  but  you  will  be  kicking  in  the 
air  half  an  hour  after  I  am  gone."!  The  readiest  and  most  suc 
cessful  impromptu  ever  uttered  on  the  floor  of  Congress  is  recorded 
of  him  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  When  in  June  1775  John  Dickinson 
had  succeeded  in  procuring  the  adoption  by  Congress  of  a  declara 
tion  of  the  causes  for  taking  up  arms,  written  by  him  in  a  temper 
almost  revolting  to  the  body  which  had  sanctioned  it  wholly  from 
regard  to  him,  and  in  strong  contrast  with  the  manly  one  written 

*  Journal  House  of  Delegates  1776  page  6. 

t  Cheerfulness  in  contemplation  of  the  gallows  would  seem  to  be  an  heredi 
tary  trait  of  the  Harrisons.  Pepys  in  his  Diary  under  the  date  of  October  13, 
1660  (Vol.  1. 146,  London  edition  of  1828)  has  the  following  reference  to  Col. 
Harrison  the  regicide  on  the  morning  of  his  execution  :  "  I  went  out  to  Char 
ing  Cross  to  see  Major  General  Harrison  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  ;  which 
was  done  there,  he  looking  as  cheerful  as  any  man  could  do  in  that  condition." 


PAUL  CARRINGTON.  101 

but  hardly  a  word  fell  from  his  lips.     He  was  almost  overwhelmed 
with  the  calamities  which  assailed  his  country.     At  this  moment  of 
prosperity  and  peace,  when  our  country  has  taken  her  station  by 
the  side  of  the  most  powerful  nations,  and  when  her  flag  is  honored 
and  feared  even  in  the  distant  isles  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  we  may 
well  afford  to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  difficulties  and  dangers 
which  beset  the  path  of  our  fathers.     In  Virginia  there  was  neither 
public  nor  private  credit.      The  issues  of  the  State  were  almost 
worthless.     A  thousand  dollars  of  currency  would  hardly  suffice  to 
buy  a  waistcoat  or  a  pair  of  boots.     And,  as  all  the  debts  of  indi 
viduals  were  payable  at  par  in  such  a  currency,  the  result  was,  that 
all  whose  wealth  consisted  in  securities  of  any  kind  were  reduced 
to  utter  poverty.     At  no  time  within  the  past  ten  years   had  gold 
or  silver  been  much  seen  in  the  colony,  but  now  both  had  entirely 
disappeared.     Children,  ten  years  old,  had  never  seen  a  silver  six 
pence.     Boys,  who  were  old  enough  to  play  the  scout,  or  shoulder 
a  musket,  had  never  seen  a  guinea.*     At  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  the  debt  due  British  merchants  was  estimated  at  ten  millions  of 
dollars,  which,  when  the  relative  value  of  money  is  considered,  was 
nearly  equal  to  the  present  public  debt  of  the  state.     Not  only  had 
the  war  put  an  end  to  the  general  cultivation  of  our  great  staple, 
which  was  lawful  currency,  but  a  number  of  slaves  between  thirty 
and  forty  thousand,  one-fifth  of  the  entire   black  population,  had 
either  gone  over  to  the  British  or  had  been  stolen  by  them.     The 
young  men  and  the  middle-aged  had  either  fallen  in  battle,  or  were 
absent  with  the  army  in  the  North  or  the   South.     Those  of  ad 
vanced  life,  who  remained  at  home,  were  in  perpetual  dread  of  the 
enemy  who  was  ready  to  strike  at  every  vulnerable  point.     Norfolk 
was  in  ashes,  but  Portsmouth  was  equally  as  accessible  by  a  hostile 
squadron,  and  was  repeatedly  the  headquarters  of  the  foe.     Rich 
mond  and  Petersburg  had  been  in  his  possession,  and  were  always 
within  his  reach.     The  dashing  corps  of  Tarleton  were  within  an 
ace  of  seizing  the  General  Assembly  in  full  session  in  Charlottes- 
ville,  a  town  in  the  interior,  distant  eighty  miles  from   Richmond. 
Nor  were   these  the  only  obstacles  to  the  pursuits  of  ordinary  life. 
Our  own  commissaries  were  abroad  to  seek  horses  and  provisions  for 

*I  have  been  told  by  an  actor  in  those  times  that  the  first  specie  that  made 
its  appearance  in  circulation  was  that  procured  by  the  sale  of  provisions  to  th 
French  troops.     When  a  farmer  got  a  French  gold  or  silver  com  into  his  pos 
session,  he  held  it  as  fast  and  as  long  as  he  was  able. 


102  PAUL  CABRINGTON. 

the  army  in  the  field,  and  a  fine  horse  or  a  fat  ox  or  cow  was  deemed 
lawful  prize.  These  domiciliary  visits,  however  necessary  and 
justifiable,  were  not  only  annoying  and  ruinous  to  individuals,  but 
they  might  also  be  dangerous.  Pictures  of  the  king  and  queen, 
likenesses  of  the  members  of  the  house  of  Hanover,  in  whose  honor 
our  fathers  delighted,  but  a  short  time  before,  to  name  their  coun 
ties,  might  involve  a  serious  risk,  and  were  hid  in  garrets  and  out 
houses,  or  were  destroyed.*  The  common  necessaries  of  life  could 
not  be  obtained  even  by  the  rich,  if  rich  they  could  be  called,  who, 
if  their  negroes  were  not  taken,  or  their  horses  impressed  in  the 
plough,  could  not  secure  from  depredation  the  crops  which  they  had 
planted,  nor  purchase  with  money,  if  money  they  had,  a  change  of 
clothing  or  a  pound  of  sugar.!  Salt  there  was  none  in  the  country. 
Meat  was  cured  with  the  earth  dug  out  of  old  smoke-houses  and 
old  tobacco  barns.  If  the  soldiers  were  successful  in  obtaining  a 
stray  bushel  of  salt,  it  was  instantly  mixed  with  hickory  ashes  to 
make  it  go  farther.  When  a  soldier  from  Prince  Edward  on  his 
return  from  the  South  was  asked  whether  he  had  not  killed  a 
British  officer  whom  he  might  have  taken  prisoner,  he  admitted  he 
had,  "but  hoped  the  Lord  would  pardon  him,  as  he  hadn't  tasted  salt 
for  a  year."  Lee's  Legion  was  the  favorite  corps  of  the  South,  and 
was  better  provided  for  than  any  other ;  yet  few  of  the  soldiers  of 
the  Legion  had  a  change  of  apparel ;  and  when  a  well-clad  tory  was 
taken,  their  first  act  was  to  exchange  garments  with  the  prisoner. 
These  circumstances  were  depressing  enough.  But  there  were 
reflections  of  a  peculiar  kind  which  occasionally  flashed  across  the 
minds  of  the  leading  men  of  the  day.  Should  the  colonies  be  re 
conquered,  on  their  heads  would  fall  the  full  weight  of  British  ven 
geance.  A  bill  of  attainder  was  on  the  table  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  ready  to  be  called  up  at  a  moment's  warning,  and  it  was 
known  to  contain  the  names  of  several  of  the  prominent  men  of 
Virginia,  and  might  easily  be  amended  to  contain  yet  more.  There 
was  also  a  conviction  that,  while  some  of  the  leaders  would  be  par- 

"I  have  seen  several  paintings  that  were  injured  in  the  manner  described,  and 
possess  likenesses  of  George  the  Third  and  his  queen  Charlotte,  which  ran  the 
gauntlet  of  the  outhouses  during  the  Revolution,  and  which  are  seriously  de 
faced. 

flf  the  planters  succeeded  in  getting  their  tobacco  to  market,  it  might  be 
taken  by  the  British.  Campbell,  in  his  introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Col 
ony  of  Virginia,  computes  the  loss  sustained  by  invasion  in  six  months  at  eleven 
millions  of  dollars.  Campbell,  page  175. 


PAUL   CARRINGTON.  103 

doned  by  the  influence  of  friends,  the  fate  of  the  remainder  would 
be  the  more  certain  and  the  more  severe.  In  Virginia  and  in 
North  and  South  Carolina  members  of  leading  families  had  adhered 
to  the  royal  cause,  and  had  either  taken  up  arms  in  its  support  or 
had  withdrawn  to  England ;  and  when  the  day  of  royal  triumph 
should  come  round,  they  might  interpose  to  save  the  lives  and  for 
tunes  of  their  friends ;  but  who  would  stand  up  for  Patrick  Henry, 
George  Mason,  Pendleton,  Paul  Carrington,  and  others  whose 
voices  were  heard  in  every  council,  and  whose  names  were  at  the 
head  of  every  committee  of  resistance  to  the  royal  authority,  when 
the  red  cross  of  St.  George  should  again  flame  above  the  palace  and 
the  capitol  ?  The  remorseless  murders  perpetrated  by  a  royal 
governor  a  century  before  at  the  close  of  Bacon's  rebellion  were 
freshly  remembered  ;  and  it  was  known  by  our  fathers,  as  hap 
pening  in  their  own  time,  that  the  house  of  Hanover  in  [the  Scotch 
rebellion  had  not  leaned  to  the  side  of  mercy.  Such  thoughts 
forced  themselves  upon  the  fiercest  opponents  of  Great  Britain. 
Of  all  the  men  of  the  Revolution  Patrick  Henry  had  displayed  the 
greatest  spirit.  He  had  been  the  first  to  defy  the  power  of  the  Brit 
ish  crown  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  had  headed  the 
people  in  their  efforts  to  recover  the  gunpowder  purloined  by  Dun- 
more,  and  had  been  appointed  commander  of  all  the  forces  in  the 
colony  ;  yet,  so  deeply  impressed  was  he  with  the  peril  of  the 
period,  that,  when  Greene  had  reached  Halifax  old  Court-house 
in  his  retreat  before  Cornwallis,  and  when  Cornwallis  himself  was 
on  the  banks  of  the  Dan  waiting  a  fall  of  water,  instead  of  harangu 
ing  the  people  of  Henry,  where  he  then  was,  and  of  marching  with 
the  levy  of  his  county  en  masse  to  harrass  the  foe,  fearing  lest  he 
might  be  captured  by  the  scouting  parties  of  the  enemy,  he  hast 
ened  from  the  scene  of  war  to  Hanover.  An  honorable  death  in 
a  fair  field  he  did  not  dread,  but  he  dreaded  an  ignominous  death 
on  the  scaffold  or  from  a  tree.  The  intercepted  letter  of  Corn 
wallis  to  Nisbett  Balfour,  dictated  on  the  spur  of  a  momentary 
triumph,  proves  incontestably  that  the  success  of  the  British  would 
have  been  written  in  the  blood  of  the  purest  and  greatest  men  of 
whom  our  country  could  boast. 

From  the  embarrassments  of  the  period  which  we  have  described, 
and  especially  from  the  depreciated  currency,  few  men  suffered 
more  severely  than  Paul  Carrington.  A  large  portion  of  his  wealth 


104  PAUL   CARRINGTON. 

was  in  the  bonds  of  debtors,  which  became  dross  in  his  hands. 
As  a  legislator,  he  had  sanctioned  the  issues  of  paper  money  as  the 
only  means  of  conducting  the  war,  and,  as  a  judge,  he  was  bound 
to  execute  the  laws.  But  in  the  midst  of  these  trials  he  displayed 
the  intrepidity  of  the  patriot  and  the  honesty  of  the  man.  While 
men  of  wealth  went  abroad  to  avoid  meeting  a  debtor;  and,  when 
a  debtor  called  to  pay  for  a  fine  estate  in  worthless  rags,  were  not 
at  home  ;  or,  if  at  home,  could  not  put  their  fingers  on  the  bond  of 
the  debtor,  who  was  requested  to  call  again;*  there  was  no  shuf 
fling  in  the  conduct  of  Carrington.  On  one  occasion  a  wealthy 
Scotchman,  who  owed  him  a  large  sum  of  money,  called  upon  him 
with  a  huge  bundle  of  paper  money  in  his  hands.  "  Colonel," 
said  the  Scotchman,  "  /  don't  call  this  trash  money — do  you  call  it 
money?"  "Yes,"  answered  Carrington,  "it  is  the  only  money  of 
my  poor  country  in  this  severe  hour  of  her  sufferings."  "  Then," 
said  the  Scotchman,  "  here  is  the  exact  amount  of  my  debt,  prin 
cipal  and  interest;  give  me  my  bond."  And  he  gave  him  his  bond. 
Another  instance  of  a  generous  nature  displayed  the  character  of 
the  man.  His  father  died  intestate  before  the  passage  of  the  act 
abolishing  primogeniture,  and  being  the  oldest  son,  he  became 
sole  heir  of  the  estate.  At  a  time  when  nine-tenths  of  the  titles 
of  land  were  devised  in  a  similar  manner,  public  sentiment  would 
have  sustained  him  in  exacting  his  legal  claim  ;  but  he  scorned  to 
deprive  his  brothers  and  sisters  of  their  equal  share  of  the  wealth 
of  a  common  parent,  and  apportioned  the  inheritance  among  them. 
Nor  were  his  own  services  all  that  he  gave  to  his  country.  His 
individual  career  was  confined  to  the  House  of  Burgesses,  to  the 
Conventions,  to  the  Committee  of  Safety,  to  the  House  of  Dele 
gates,  and  to  the  judiciary;  but  he  contributed  three  sons  to  the 
army  :  George,  who  was  the  first  lieutenant  of  Armstrong's  troop, 
and  whose  gallantry  at  Quinby  Bridge  is  commemorated  by  Gen. 
Lee  in  his  memoirs  of  the  war  in  the  South ;  Paul,  who  was  at  the 
battle  of  Guilford,  and  Clement,  who  was  in  that  desperate  charge 
of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  lines  on  the  bloody  field  of  Eutaw, 
and  was  severely  wounded  by  a  musket  ball  fired  at  point  blank 
distance  from  the  house  in  which  a  datachment  of  the  ftying  enemy 
had  sought  a  shelter. 

*  In  due  time  provision  was  made  by  law  to  prevent  all  such  evasions  on  the 
part  of  creditors. 


THOMAS  READ.  105 

But,  if  the  middle-life  of  Paul  Carrington  was  engrossed  with 
the  cares  and  sufferings  of  his  country,  his  latter  years  were 
cheered  by  her  prosperity  and  glory.  He  became  pleasant  and 
cheerful  as  he  grew  old,  and  frequently  indulged  in  a  strain  of  hu 
mor  as  peculiar  as  it  was  irresistible.  He  enjoyed  good  health, 
always  retained  the  erect  carriage  of  early  manhood,  and  within 
a  year  of  his  death  rode  regularly  to  court,  a  distance  of  fifteen 
miles,  on  horseback.  And  on  the  twenty-first  of  June  1818,  after 
a  short  illness  of  a  disease  which  is  as  fatal  to  the  young  as 
the  old,  fifteen  years  after  the  death  of  Pendleton,  in  the  eighty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age,  he  died  at  Mulberry  Hill,  his  seat  on  the 
banks  of  the  Staunton. 

The  colleague  of  Carrington  from  the  county  of  Charlotte, 
though  his  name  has  almost  faded  from  the  memory  of  the  present 
generation,  was  equally  distinguished  by  the  fervor  of  his  patriot 
ism,  by  the  strictest  integrity,  and  by  the  highest  sense  of  personal 
honor.  They  were  nearly  of  the  same  age,  were  brothers-in-law, 
had  been  together  in  the  same  clerk's  office,  were,  on  all  great 
occasions,  colleagues  in  the  public  councils,  and  wrere  personal 
friends,  there  were  some  strong  points  of  resemblance  in  their 
characters.  Both  wrote  excellent  hands,  were  thoroughly  skilled 
in  finance,  and  carried  such  system  into  their  private  affairs  that 
either  could  have  turned  at  a  moment's  notice  to  a  paper  half  a 
century  old.  THOMAS  READ,  who  inherited  the  papers  of  his 
father,  the  old  clerk  of  Lunenburg,  could  have  gone  back  nearly 
a  century.  Read,  though  not  a  lawyer  by  profession,  was  well 
versed  in  the  law,  and  in  his  various  legal  controversies  with  some 
of  the  most  eminent  members  of  the  bar  was  usually  successful. 
Both,  rather  by  the  process  of  small  profits  and  strict  economy 
than  by  sudden  speculation,  accumulated  large  estates.  Both, 
though  courteous  and  affable,  and  noted  for  the  disinterested  and 
valuable  services  rendered  indiscriminately  to  all  who  needed  them, 
were  slow  in  forming  friendships ;  but,  when  their  friendships  were 
formed,  they  were  indissoluble.  The  friendship  which  Carrington 
cherished  for  Pendleton,  and  which  Read  cherished  for  Madison, 
no  difficulty,  no  disaster,  no  evil  tongue,  could  sunder  or  impair. 
Both  were  men  of  pure  lives,  and  of  honesty  that  became  prover 
bial  ;  and  were  for  nearly  two  generations  the  confidential  advisers 
of  the  people  who  knew  that  neither  interest  nor  passion  could 


106  THOMAS   READ. 

sway  their  opinions.  But,  great  as  was  the  influence  of  Carrington 
in  the  county  of  Charlotte,  that  of  Read,  from  his  peculiar  man 
ners,  from  his  long  and  unintermitted  acquaintance  with  the  peo 
ple  as  clerk  of  the  county  for  almost  half  a  century,  and  from  the 
caste  of  his  political  sentiments,  was  greater  still.  Hence  in  all 
the  elections  held  for  the  state  Conventions,  the  only  bodies  which, 
as  clerk  of  a  Court,  he  could  attend,  Read  was  returned  the  senior 
member  of  the  Charlotte  delegation.  He  was  the  son  of  Col. 
Clement  Read,*  who  was  clerk  of  the  county  of  Lunenburg  from 
1744  to  1765,  when  Charlotte  was  formed,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  efficient  public  men  of  his  time  as  his  letters  still  extant  show, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  whose  remains 
now  rest  with  those  of  numerous  descendants  in  the  burial  ground 
of  Bushy  Forest.  The  success  of  Thomas  Read,  however,  de 
pended  on  his  personal  qualities.  Like  most  of  the  active  colo 
nists  who  acquired  large  estates,  he  began  life  as  a  surveyor,  an  ap 
pointment  of  some  note  in  early  times,  and  never  granted  until  the 
candidate  had  passed  a  strict  examination  at  the  seat  of  govern 
ment  by  a  board  organized  for  the  purpose.  He  studied  at  William 
and  Mary,  and  became  deputy  clerk  of  Charlotte  in  1765,  when,  as 
before  observed,  it  was  set  apart  from  Lunenburg,  and  in  1770  be 
came  principal,  holding  the  office  until  his  death  in  1817,  with 
the  approbation  of  all.t  His  father  was  from  a  county  bounded 

*  The  ancestor  of  Clement  Read  probably  came  over  soon  after  the  Restora 
tion.     Col.  Thomas  Read  was  one  of  Cromwell's  Colonels,  and  was  in  command 
of  a  regiment  when  Monk  addressed  to  the   colonels  of  his  army  the  celebrated 
letter  of  the  21st  of  February  1659,  on  taking  the  direction  of  civil  affairs  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  parliament.     Among  the  colonels  of  the  army  were  Thomas 
Johnson,  William  Eyre,  Banister,  Nicholas  and  other  common  Virginia  names. 
The  probability  is  that,  as  the  armistice  was  most  shamefully  broken  on  the 
restoration  of  Charles,  some  of  these  men  or  members  of  their  families  soon  af 
ter  emigrated  to  the    Colony.     See    Baker's    Chronicle,  edition   1665,  page  6S6 
and  689.     Among  the  knights  of  the  Bath  at  the  Coronation  of  Charles  may  be 
seen  the  names  of  Wise,  Wray,  Nicholas,  and  other  old   names  of  the  Colony, 
(Ibid  736.)     As  they  were  protestants,  if  not  tinged  with  puritanism,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  their  sons  came  over  to  get  rid  of  the  religious  tyranny  of  James. 
The  name  of  Wise  appears  as  early  as  1682  as  the  standard  bearer  in  the  famous 
foray  against  sweet-scented  tobacco.     It  has  been  well  observed  by  Mr.  Minor 
that  the  history  of  that  foray  is  not  well  understood. 

*  On  the  creation  of  a  new  county  during  the   colonial  regime  a  clerk  was 
appointed  from  the  secretary's  office  in  Williamsburg,  who  at   once  removed 
to  the  new  county  to  assist  in  its  organization,  or  farmed  the  office  to  a  deputy, 
or  sold  it  for  ready  money.     Read  purchased  the  clerkship    from  his  principal, 
who  never  resided  in  Charlotte,  in   1770.     In  those  days  clerkships  were  fre 
quently  in  the  market,  and  were  readily  bought  as   a  provision  for   a  son,  the 
court  rarely  refusing  to  confirm   the  title  of  the  purchaser  by  a  formal  election 
to   the    office.    The   mode   of   original    appointment   continued  down  to   the 


THOMAS   READ.  107 

by  the  James,  but  Read  himself  was  born  in  Lunenburg.  Paul 
Carrington  came  directly  from  the  James ;  a  distinction  apparently 
of  little  note,  but  which  may  be  plainly  traced  throughout  the  po 
litical  career  of  both.  Carrington  sided  with  the  party  of  which 
Bland  and  Nicholas  were  the  heads ;  Read  with  that  of  which 
Henry  and  Jefferson  were  the  heads..  Carrington  opposed  the 
resolutious  of  1765  against  the  Stamp  Act ;  Read  would  have  sus 
tained  them.  Carrington,  in  the  March  Convention  of  1775, 
voted  against  the  resolutions  of  Henry  for  embodying  the  militia ; 
Read  would  have  voted  for  their  adoption.  Carrington,  at  a  later 
day,  in  the  Convention  of  1788,  voted  in  favor  of  ratifying  the 
federal  constitution ;  Read,  who  was  his  colleague,  opposed  its 
ratification.  Carrington  sustained  the  administrations  of  Washing 
ton  and  Adams ;  Read,  following  the  lead  of  Jefferson  and  Madi 
son,  opposed  some  of  the  leading  measures  of  both  administrations. 
Carrington  opposed  the  administration  of  Jefferson  ;  Read  sus 
tained  it  with  all  his  zeal.  It  was  not  until  the  administration  of 
Madison  that  these  worthy  patriots  united  in  a  common  cause. 

During  the  Revolution  Read  was  the  county  lieutenant  of  Char 
lotte,  and  not  only  marched  on  one  occasion  to  Petersburg  himself, 
but  by  his  efficient  aid  in  supplying  the  quotas  of  that  county  in 
men  and  means  to  the  state  and  continental  lines,  rendered  inval 
uable  service  to  his  country.  The  requisitions  addressed  to  him 
by  Gov.  Henry  and  Gov.  Jefferson,  endorsed  and  annotated  by  his 
own  hand,  are  still  extant  to  attest  his  zeal  in  the  public  cause. 
No  county  in  the  state  surpassed  his  own  in  the  relative  numbers 
contributed  to  the  army  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  his  own  brother, 
ISAAC  READ  of  Greenfield,  who  in  the  command  of  the  fourth 
Virginia  Regiment  fell  a  martyr  to  disease  in  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia,  where  his  ashes  now  repose.*  It  was  Col.  William  Mor- 

Revolution,  when  the  magistrates  appointed  whom  they  pleased  to  the  office. 
The  writers  in  the  secretary's  office  complained  bitterly  of  this  innovation  in 
their  petitions  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  sought  a  remuneration  for  their 
past  labors  and  blasted  hopes.  See  the  Journal  of  the  House  of  Delegates  of 
1776. 

*  Isaac  Read  of  Greenfield,  as  true  a  patriot  as  appeared  in  the  Revolution, 
deserves  a  passing  notice.  He  wras  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  especially  in  1769  when  that  body  was  dissolved  by  Lord  Botetourt, 
and  when  the  members  adjourned  to  the  Raleigh  to  form  an  association  against 
the  act  of  parliament  imposing  duties  on  teas,  &.c.  To  this  instrument  the 
name  of  Isaac  Read  is  attached,  as  well  as  to  the  Mercantile  Association  formed 
by  the  members  and  leading  merchants  the  following  year.  Read  continued  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  until  it  was  superseded  by  the  Conventions. 


108  THOMAS  LEWIS. 

ton  of  Charlotte,  who  slew  at  the  battle  of  Guilford  the  gallant  Col. 
Webster,  the  pride  of  the  army  of  Cornwallis.  Indeed  there  is 
scarcely  a  battle-field  in  the  North  or  in  the  South  that  has  not  been 
illustrated  by  the  valor  or  moistened  by  the  blood  of  the  men  of 
Charlotte.  And  in  effecting  such  patriotic  results  it  is  not  easy  to 
estimate  too  highly  the  services  of  Col.  Thomas  Read.  Nor  did  his 
military  spirit  ever  forsake  him.  When,  tottering  on  the  brink  of 
the  grave,  he  saw  his  country  involved  in  a  second  war  of  inde 
pendence  with  her  ancient  foe,  he  appealed  to  the  patriotism  of 
the  young  men  of  Charlotte ;  and  when  he  saw  them  marching  to 
the  seat  of  war,  he  was  ready  to  embrace  them  in  the  excess  of 
his  joy.  And  when,  as  he  was  rejoicing  at  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent,  an  opponent  of  the  war  sarcastically  observed 
that  he  saw  in  that  instrument  no  article  about  free  trade  and  sai 
lors'  rights,  Read,  with  more  than  usual  warmth,  instantly  replied  : 
"  We  don't  want  an  article — we  have  fought  them  and  we  have 
flogged  them." 

He  was  one  of  the  last  specimens  of  a  class  and  of  a  generation 
now  dying  out,  when  personal  manners  and  dress  were  more  re 
garded  than  at  present.  His  stature  approached  six  feet,  and  he 
was  large  in  proportion.  His  head  was  broad  and  full ;  his  eyes 
were  blue,  his  nose  Roman,  his  chin  round  and  firmly  set.  He 
wore  his  hair  powdered,  and  retained  the  queue  which  he  had  worn 
that  day  when,  on  a  report  that  Cornwallis  was  crossing  the  Dan, 
he  marched  with  the  levy  en  masse  of  the  county  of  Charlotte  to 
oppose  his  progress.  His  dress  was  always  neat  and  even  elegant, 
and  in  society  he  was  the  model  of  an  accomplished  gentleman.* 
He  died  on  the  fourth  of  February  1817,  at  Ingleside,  his  seat  on 
Little  Roanoke,  a  stream  on  the  banks  of  which  he  was  born,  and 
on  the  banks  of  which  he  was  buried.  On  his  dying  bed  his  wonted 
amenity  was  still  apparent.  When  a  friend,  a  few  moments  be 
fore  his  death,  moistened  his  speechless  lips,  he  nodded  a  grateful 
recognition.  One  overshadowing  sorrow  darkened  his  last  days. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  August  1774,  that  of  March,  and  of 
June  1775,  by  which  last  body  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the 
fourth  Virginia  Regiment.  At  this  call  of  his  country  he  cast  aside  all  the 
civil  honors  which  were  within  his  reach,  and  hastened  with  his  command  to 
the  North,  where  he  died  from  exposure  in  the  public  service. 

*  A  beautiful  miniature  of  Col.  Read,  done  on  ivory,  is  in  the  possession  of 
his  grand-niece  Mrs.  M.  L.  Comfort  of  Charlotte.  JN'o  likeness  of  Paul  Car- 
rington  exists. 


THOMAS  LEWIS.  109 

A  daughter,  an  only  child,  the  child  of  his  old  age,  whose  voice  he 
fondly  hoped  would  soothe  his  departing  spirit,  he  consigned  to 
the  grave ;  and  when,  in  less  than  two  years  after  her  death,  his 
own  body  was  about  to  be  placed  by  her  side,  his  friends  saw  in 
the  beaten  path  that  led  to  her  solitary  tomb  beneath  the  hollies 
of  Ingleside  whence  came  the  shaft  that  laid  him  low. 

No  two  members  of  the  Convention  Were  more  prominent  in  their 
respective  spheres,  or  displayed  a  patriotism  of  a  purer  stamp,  than 
Col.  THOMAS  LEWIS  of  Augusta,  and  Col.  WILLIAM  CABELL  of 
Amherst,  or,  as  he  was  styled  in  the  fashion  of  the  day,  of  Union 
Hill.  Both  were  men  of  action  rather  than  of  words,  had  long  been 
members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  were  members  of  all  the  Con 
ventions  held  previous  to  the  formation  of  the  constitution,  and 
were  especially  efficient  in  carrying  out  during  the  war  the  plans  of 
the  Committee  of  Safety,  of  the  Conventions,  and  of  the  govern 
ment  under  the  constitution.  Each  was  the  representative  of  an 
important  and  distinct  class,  the  interests  of  which,  though  appa 
rently  the  same,  were  in  many  respects  dissimilar,  and  enjoyed  its 
unlimited  confidence.  LEWIS  was  the  representative  of  the  people 
of  the  extreme  west,  who,  from  their  position  and  the  habits  which 
it  induced,  were  inclined  to  advance  more  steadily  and  with  a 
quicker  pace  to  independence  than  their  brethren  of  the  extreme 
east.  They  shared  none  of  the  honors  of  the  Colony ;  they  had 
come  over  to  the  colony  at  a  comparatively  recent  date,  and  brought 
with  them  few  of  those  attachments  and  prejudices  which  some  of 
the  ancestors  of  the  eastern  people  had  brought  over  and  had  taught 
their  descendants  to  cherish ;  they  were  full  of  a  martial  spirit 
which  self-defence  rendered  necessary,  and  which  had  been  exhib 
ited  in  their  Indian  contests  with  signal  effect;  they  were  in  a  great 
measure  unrestricted  in  their  religious  privileges,  and  were  practi 
cally  even  more  than  their  eastern  neighbors  an  independent  peo 
ple.  Their  sagacity  led  them  to  perceive  that  their  privileges  would 
gradually  be  lost  with  the  increase  of  population,  and  that  a  church 
establishment,  to  the  forms  and  doctrines  of  which  they  were  op 
posed,  would  ere  long  be  firmly  fixed  upon  them.  To  such  a  people, 
living  far  from  the  seaboard,  and  engaged  but  to  a  limited  extent  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  great  staple  which  constituted  the  common 
currency,  the  idea  of  taxation  even  by  their  own  House  of  Bur- 
gesges,  which  was  beginning  to  be  sensibly  felt,  was  formidable 


110  THOMAS  LEWIS. 

enough  without  the  addition  of  taxation  from  abroad.  The  farmer 
who  might  look  upon  his  fields  stocked  with  cattle,  his  smoke-house 
bristling  with  bacon,  and  his  granary  full  of  produce  beyond  the 
reach  of  a  market,  often  had  very  little  tobacco  for  the  payment  of 
taxes,  and  rarely  a  dollar  in  coin.  Hence,  on  the  two  great  occa 
sions  of  opposition  to  the  stamp  act  in  176.5,  and  of  the  scheme  of 
embodying  the  militia  in  the  March  Convention  of  1775,  the  vote 
of  the  west  decided  the  victory.  And  that  vote  was  freely  and 
fearlessly  cast  by  Thomas  Lewis.  Hence  that  eloquent  memorial 
from  the  Committee  of  Augusta,  presented  on  one  of  the  first  days 
of  the  session  of  the  Convention  now  sitting,  which  denounced  the 
conduct  of  Great  Britain,  and  advised  not  only  the  formation  of  an 
independent  state  government  but  a  permanent  confederation  of  the 
colonies.  That  noble  paper,  which  Augusta  might  put  forth  as  her 
declaration  of  independence,  and  which  should  be  equally  familiar 
in  the  cottage  and  in  the  college,  was  presented  by  Lewis  and  was 
probably  from  his  pen.*  Hence  the  readiness  with  which  the  song 
of  the  west  rushed  from  their  mountains  to  meet  the  enemy,  and 
the  success  which  crowned  their  arms  on  many  a  classic  field. 

THOMAS  LEWIS  was  sprung  from  a  stock  the  history  of  which  is 
the  history  of  the  political  and  religious  persecutions  of  a  memorable 
century  in  the  annals  of  Christendom.  His  ancestor  was  a  native 
of  France,  and  in  consequence  of  the  religious  troubles  which  ulti 
mately  led  to  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  but  before  the 
revocation  itself,  took  refuge  in  Ireland,  where  in  1678  John,  the 
father  of  Thomas  Lewis,  was  born.  John  Lewis,  the  father  of  four 
children,  was  living  quietly  in  Donegal,  when  a  painful  affair,  in 
which  he  acted  with  becoming  spirit  and  honor,  compelled  him  to 
fly  to  Oporto,  whence  he  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania,  whither  he  was 
followed  by  his  wife  and  sons,  and  where  he  spent  the  winters  of 

*I  fear  much  that  this  memorial  was  lost  with  other  public  papers  during  the 
Revolution.  The  substance  of  it  may  be  found  in  the  Journal  of  the  Conven 
tion  of  1776  page  11.  It  was  written  some  time  before  Congress  adopted  on 
the  10th  of  May  1776  a  resolution  recommending  the  colonies  to  form  temporary 
governments  for  domestic  affairs  and  before  our  own  resolution  of  independence. 
It  is  the  first  distinct  and  responsible  proposition  in  favor  of  independence  and  of 
a  federal  union  which  I  have  met  with.  Some  son  of  Augusta  should  hunt  up 
the  records  to  ascertain  its  fate.  If  it  exists,  it  will  probably  appear  among  the 
manuscripts  in  the  clerk's  office  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  or  among  those  in 
one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Capitol  under  the  charge  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Com 
monwealth,  which  I  once  looked  over  with  another  object  in  view.  It  is  possi 
ble  a  copy  may  be  found  among  the  papers  of  Lewis  or  of  some  member  of  the 
county  committee  of  Augusta. 


THOMAS    LEWIS.  Ill 

1731  and  '32.  Thence  he  immediately  removed  to  Augusta,  and 
was  with  his  family  among  the  earliest  settlers  of  that  region.  It  is 
fitly  inscribed  on  the  stone  which  protects  the  remains  of  John 
Lewis,  that  "  he  furnished  five  sons  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  Revolu 
tion."  A  more  glorious  epitaph  could  not  have  been  inscribed  upon 
it,  and  a  nobler  fraternal  band  never  drew  sword  in  the  public  de 
fence.  Samuel  commanded  at  Braddock's  defeat  a  company  of 
Virginians,  among  whom  were  three  of  his  own  brothers,  and  aided 
in  saving  the  remnants  of  an  army  led  to  destruction  by  the  wilful- 
ness  of  a  brave  but  conceited  leader.  William  was  distinguished  as 
a  soldier  in  the  Indian  wars  and  was  an  officer  in  the  Revolution. 
Charles,  the  only  brother  born  in  Virginia,  fell  at  the  battle  of  Point 
Pleasant,  ere  victory  had  yet  perched  upon  the  banner  of  his  coun 
try.  Andrew  of  all  the  brothers  attained  the  highest  rank  in  the 
military  service.  He  was  with  Braddock  in  the  company  com 
manded  by  his  brother,  was  with  Grant  at  Duquesne,  and  punished 
on  the  spot  the  insolence  of  a  man  whose  cowardice  in  the  field  was 
only  equalled  by  his  falsehood  on  the  floor  of  the  British  parliament, 
was  with  Washington  at  Fort  Necessity,  was  commander-in-chief 
at  the  battle  of  Point  Pleasant,  where  he  achieved  a  victory  which 
rendered  the  soil  of  Virginia  thenceforth  sacred  from  the  foot  of 
the  savage, — though  not  till  that  soil  was  moistened  with  the  blood 
of  a  beloved  brother — was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  March 
1775  and  of  that  of  June  following,  from  which  last  he  received  a 
military  commission ;  and,  as  brigadier  General  in  the  continental 
line,  drove,  a  few  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention 
now  sitting,  Dunmore  from  his  retreat  on  Gwyn's  island,  and 
from  the  confines  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  was  over  six  feet 
high,  of  a  noble  presence,  and  of  such  a  stately  demeanor  that  the 
governor  of  the  colony  of  New  York,  whither  he  had  gone  to  nego 
tiate  the  treaty  of  Stanwix,  remarked  that  the  earth  seemed  to 
tremble  beneath  his  tread.  It  is  painful  to  reflect  that  such  a  man 
fell  a  victim  to  disease  before  the  independence  of  his  country  was 
fully  established.* 

Thomas  Lewis,  of  whom  it  is  our  province  to  speak  at  present, 
though  reported  by  our  historians  to  have  been  engaged  in 
Indian  fights,  and  present  at  Braddock's  defeat,  embarked  in  the 

*Gen.  Andrew  Lewis  died  in  Bedford  on  his  way  home  in  1780  of  a  disease 
contracted  by  exposure  in  the  low  country. 


112  THOMAS    LEWIS. 

civil  service  only  of  his  country.*  On  the  organization  of  the 
county  of  Augusta  in  1745  he  qualified  as  surveyor,  having  re 
ceived  his  appointment  from  a  board  of  which  President  Dawson  of 
this  College  was  the  head.  He  entered  the  House  of  Burgesses  at 
an  early  age,  and  in  the  memorable  session  of  1765,  sustained  the 
resolutions  of  Henry.  He  was  a  member  of  all  the  Conventions 
including  the  one  now  in  session.  He  voted  for  the  resolution  in 
structing  the  delegates  in  Congress  to  propose  independence,  and 
was  one  of  the  committee  which  prepared  the  Declaration  of 
Rights  and  the  Constitution.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  House 
of  Delegates  under  the  constitution,  and  was  placed  on  the  com 
mittee  of  Religion,  to  which  was  assigned  the  delicate  duty  of  adopt 
ing  a  policy  which  would  effectually  secure  religious  freedom.  And 
it  may  be  honorably  recorded  of  him,  that  at  a  period  when  some  of 
our  wisest  and  purest  statesmen  hesitated  in  their  course  in  relation 

*Thomas  Lewis  is  represented  by  C.  Campbell  and  by  the  author  of  the  account 
of  the  Lewis  family  in  the  Historical  Register  as  having  been  engaged  in  our 
early  Indian  fights;  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  on  the  authority  of  a  letter  of 
Gen.  S.  H.  Lewis,  his  grandson,  to  Samuel  Price  esq.,  dated  April  6,  1855,  that 
the  defective  sight  of  Thomas  prevented  him  from  joining  his  gallant  brothers  in 
the  iield.  With  the  aid  of  glasses,  which  he  always  used,  he  was  hardly  able 
to  tell  an  Indian  from  a  white  rnan  at  the  distance  of  twenty  paces.  The  letter 
alluded  to  above  says :  "  I  have  heard  that  he  was  six  feet  in  height,  robust  but  not 
inclined  to  corpulency;  his  eyes  and  hair  were  dark ;  his  complexion  fair.  I 
have  heard  him  spoken  of  as  a  handsome,  fine-looking  man.  The  caste  of  his 

Erofile  I  cannot  describe,  but  I  do  not  think  it  was  Roman  or  aquilinej;  as  I  have 
eard  it  said  that  my  elder  brother,  Thomas,  resembled  him  in  features.  He 
was  exceedingly  near-sighted,  and  was  under  the  necessity  of  using  glasses 
habitually.  There  is  no  family  portrait  extant  of  him  that  I  know  of.  He  was 
of  a  grave  and  serious  temper ;  strict,  perhaps  rigid  in  his  notions  of  moral  and 
religious  duty.  Though  a  supporter  of,  and  a  regular  attendant  upon  the  ser 
vices  of  the  established  church,  he  was  not  a  communicant.  He  was  possessed 
of  a  liberal  education,  and  was  probably  one  of  the  best  mathematicians  of  his 
day  in  the  state.  He  had  a  literary  taste,  and,  when  not  engaged  in  business  or 
occupied  with  company,  was  generally  to  be  found  in  his  library.  His  collec 
tion  of  books  was  very  extensive  and  valuable,  embracing  many  of  the  most 
important  works  then  extant  in  history,  biography,  moral  philosophy,  political 
economy,  national  law,  theology  and  poetry.  In  his  theological  department 
were  Tillotson,  Barrow,  South,  '  the  Boyle  Lecture,'  and  other  standard  works 
of  the  English  church.  He  was  born  in  Donegal  county,  Ireland,  on  the  27th  of 
April  1718,  and  died  at  his  residence  in  Rockingham  county  on  the  Shenandoah 
river,  three  miles  from  Port  Republic,  on  the  31st  day  of  January,  1790.  In  his 
will  he  fixed  the  place  on  his  own  estate  where  he  wished  to  be  buried,  and  'de 
sired  that  the  Burial  service  might  be  read  from  the  book  of  Common  Prayer  by 
his  friend  Peachy  Gilmer.'  He  died  of  a  cancer  in  the  face.  He  was  1  have 
always  understood  the  eldest  son  of  John  Lewis.  He  married  on  the  26th  Jan 
uary  1749  Jane,  the  daughter  of  William  Strother  esq.  of  Stafford  county, 
whose  estate  opposite  to  Fredericksburg  joined  the  residence  of  the  father  of 
Gen.  Washington,  with  whom  (G.  W.)  she  was  a  school-mate,  and  nearly  of  the 
same  age.  She  died  in  September  1820.  Thomas  and  Jane  Lewris  brought  up 
a  family  of  thirteen  children." 


WILLIAM  CABELL  OF  UNION  HILL.  113 

to  a  church  establishment  to  which  he  was  attached,  he  went  hand 
in  hand  with  Jefferson,  and  approved  those  measures  which  ulti 
mately  led  to  the  passage  of  the  act  concerning  Religious  Freedom. 
In  grateful  obedience  to  the  mandate  of  the  Augusta  memorial  he 
warmly  upheld  the  scheme  of  a  confederation,  and  voted  for  the 
Articles  proposed  by  Congress  for  tjie  consideration  of  the  states. 
At  a  later  day,  when  the  federal  constitution  was  submitted  for 
the  ratification  of  the  states,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Convention 
called  to  decide  upon  it ;  but,  though  solicitous  to  connect  the 
states  in  the  closest  bonds,  and  in  unison  with  most  of  his  com 
peers  who  had  supported  the  resolutions  of  Henry  against  the 
Stamp  Act  and  his  resolutions  for  embodying  the  militia,  he  re 
fused  to  vote  for  the  adoption  of  that  instrument  until  certain 
amendments  which  he  deemed  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the 
rights  of  the  states  were  adopted. 

It  has  been  observed  that  THOMAS  LEWIS  and  WILLIAM  CABELL 
were  the  representatives  of  distinct  and  important  interests  in  the 
colony.  CABELL  lived  upon  his  patrimonial  estate  on  the  banks  of 
the  upper  James,  was,  though  distant  from  tide,  a  large  slaveholder, 
and  a  tobacco  planter,  and,  though  from  his  position  having  certain 
affinities  with  the  west,  was  in  the  main  from  interest  and  sympa 
thy  intimately  connected  with  the  east.  His  father  was  an  Eng 
lishman,  once  a  surgeon  in  the  British  navy,  and  he  himself,  though 
liberal  in  his  religious  views,  adhered  to  the  church  of  England  ; 
but,  as  his  father  had  settled  in  the  colony  a  short  time  only  before 
the  father  of  Lewis  came  over,  he  had  not  fallen  heir  to  that 
legacy  of  prejudices  which  beset  many  of  the  descendants  of  the 
earlier  settlers.  William  Cabell,  the  father  of  William  Cabell  of 
Union  Hill,  arrived  in  the  colony  about  1720,  and,  having  taken 
up  lands  on  both  sides  of  the  James  in  the  present  counties  of  Am- 
herst,  Nelson,  and  Buckingham,  laid  in  that  region  the  foundations  of 
his  fortune.  He  was  a  good  scholar,  and  soon  surrounded  himself 
in  his  forest  home  with  a  noble  library.  He  was  skilled  in  his 
profession,  which  he  practised  within  a  wide  sphere,  was  sagacious 
in  business,  was  fond  of  rural  sports,  and  revelled  in  the  play  of 
a  sportive  fancy,  the  sallies  of  which  yet  afford  amusement  at  the 
firesides  of  his  descendants.*  Dying  at  an  advanced  age  in  1774, 
he  did  not  live  to  hail  the  advent  of  Independence ;  but,  like  his 

*  Carrington  Memoranda. 
8 


114  WILLIAM  CABELL   OF  UNION   HILL. 

contemporary  John  Lewis,  contributed  four  sons  to  the  eventful 
contest  in  which  it  was  won.  Of  those  four  sons  the  eldest  was 
William,  of  whom  we  will  speak  at  length  presently ;  the  second 
was  Joseph,  who  was  at  various  times  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  especially  in  1769,  when  that  body,  dissolved  by  Bote- 
tourt,  adopted  in  the  Raleigh  Tavern  the  agreement  already  alluded 
to,  to  which  his  name  is  attached,  and  in  1770,  when  the  Burgesses 
uniting  with  the  merchants  organised  the  Mercantile  Association, 
which  also  bears  his  name.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention 
of  March,  of  July,  and  of  December  1775,  but  gave  place  in  May 
1776  to  Gabriel  Penn,  and  was  subsequently  a  member  of  the  As 
sembly.  The  third  son,  John,  was  a  member  of  the  Convention 
of  December  1775,  and  of  the  Convention  of  which  we  are  now 
treating.  The  fourth,  Nicholas,  engaged  in  the  military  service  of 
the  Revolution,  served  under  the  command  of  La  Fayette,  was  a 
member  at  various  times  of  the  Assembly,  and  was  an  active  poli 
tician.  Thus  did  three  sons  of  the  elder  Cabell  serve  in  the  re 
spective  Conventions  which  wrere  held  before  the  constitution  went 
into  effect. 

But  from  this  patriotic  brotherhood  the  name  of  WILLIAM  CABELL 
may  be  singled  out  as  the  one  posterity  will  be  most  pleased  to  con 
template.  Under  the  guidance  of  his  accomplished  father  he  passed 
his  early  years,  availing  himself  of  the  literary  advantages  which 
the  paternal  mansion  afforded.  Tall  and  muscular,  his  face  bearing 
that  Roman  outline  which  may  yet  be  traced  in  his  descendants,  fond 
of  rural  sports,  skilled  in  the  witchery  of  horsemanship,  courting 
danger  as  a  plaything,  and  of  engaging  manners,  he  was  the  model 
of  the  young  Virginian  of  his  time.  But  it  is  as  he  appeared  at  a 
later  day  in  the  public  councils  that  we  seek  to  trace  him.  He 
was  then  eminently  conspicuous  as  a  man  of  noble  presence,  of 
gallant  bearing,  and  of  undaunted  spirit.  He  was  a  planter  in  the 
large  acceptation  of  the  word,  as  it  was  understood  rather  in  the 
interior  than  on  the  seaboard,  which  included  not  only  the  culti 
vation  of  a  staple,  and  its  ordinary  agricultural  aspects,  but  the 
construction  of  the  instruments  and  the  preparation  and  manufac 
ture  of  articles,  which  the  eastern  planters  of  that  day,  like  many 
of  their  successors,  were  content  to  find  ready  made  to  their  hands. 
He  fashioned  his  iron  on  his  own  stithy  ;  he  built  his  houses  with  his 
own  workmen;  he  wove  into  cloth  the  wool  from  his  own  sheep 


WILLIAM   CABELL   OF  UNION   HILL.  115 

and  the  cotton  from  his  own  patch ;  he  made  his  shoes  out  of  his 
own  leather.  He  managed  his  various  estates  with  that  masterly 
skill  with  which  a  general  superintends  an  army,  or  a  statesman 
the  interests  of  a  community  entrusted  to  his  charge.  What  Wash 
ington  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  Cabell  was  on  the  banks 
of  the  upper  James.  Nor  was  the  hospitality  of  Mount  Vernon, 
if  by  the  splendor  of  its  exhibitions  it  eclipsed  that  of  the  more 
modest  Union  Hill,  more  cordial,  more  comprehensive,  or  more 
refined.  There  were  indeed  many  traits  of  resemblance  between 
the  owners  of  those  two  fine  estates,  which,  as  they  were  from 
their  unrivalled  location  the  objects  of  the  admiration  of  all  who 
beheld  them,  and  were  the  abodes  of  the  elegance  and  taste  of 
their  accomplished  hosts,  have  a  sanctity  thrown  over  them  as  the 
depositories  of  the  ashes  of  the  sacred  dead.*  The  caste  of  their 
characters  was  much  the  same.  They  were  nearly  of  the  same 
age,  were  marked  by  their  lofty  stature  which  exceeded  six  feet, 
by  the  uncommon  strength  of  their  sinewy  frames,  by  their  perfect 
horsemanship,  by  their  entire  self-possession,  no  unfrequent  con 
comitant  of  well-braced  nerves,  in  times  of  peril,  and  by  a  grave 
and  stately  demeanor,  controlled  indeed  by  the  occasion,  but  verg 
ing  in  a  state  of  repose  to  sternness,  carried  into  the  daily  offices 
of  the  house  and  the  plantation  the  strictest  system,  and  were  pas 
sionately  fond  of  rural  life.  Washington,  who  was  born  poor,  sal 
lied  into  the  forest  with  a  compass  in  his  hand  which  in  a  spirit  of 
adventure  he  exchanged  for  the  sword;  but  when  wealth  devolved 
upon  him,  that  sword  was  soon  turned  into  a  pruning-hook,  and  the 
Indian  fighter  became  the  farmer  of  Mount  Vernon.  Cabell,  who 
was  the  elder  by  two  years,  born  rich,  engaged  at  once  in  his  favo 
rite  pursuit,  and  prosecuted  it  with  that  strict  attention  to  details 

*  The  mansion  of  Mount  Vernon,  if  not  more  capacious,  was  more  costly 
than  the  dwelling  at  Union  Hill;  but  the  estate  of  Union  Hill  fa  surpassed  in 
value  that  of  Mount  Vernon.  "It  occupied  the  beautiful  and  fertile  valley  of 
the  James  from  the  mouth  of  Tye  River  down  to  the  head  of  the  Swift  Islands, 
a  distance  of  six  miles.  About  the  midway  of  this  valley  and  on  a  fine  swel 
ling  hill  overlooking  it,  Col.  Cabell  erected  his  spacious  dwelling,  which  com 
manded  a  view  of  the  rich  bottoms  of  the  James,  the  ivy  cliff's  on  the  opposite 
side,  and  the  gentle  river  flowing  between  them,  and  the  distant  mountains 
sinking  down  and  disappearing  in  the  southwestern  horizon.  The  selection  of 
the  site  was  as  creditable  to  Col.  Cabell  as  a  man  of  taste  as  his  methodical 
habits  were  to  him  as  a  man  of  business.  It  has  been  stated  that  he  held  at 
one  time  twenty-five  thousand  acres  of  the  best  land  in  the  present  counties  of 
Nelson  and  Arnherst."  Letter  of  J.  C.  Cabell,  esq.,  to  F.  N.  Cabell,  esq. 


116  WILLIAM  CABELL  OF  UNION  HILL, 

which  was  shown  in  the  management  of  Mount  Vernon.*  Both 
were  looked  upon  as  the  social  representatives  of  their  respective 
regions  of  country,  and  were  unsurpassed  in  the  baronial  expanse 
of  their  hospitality,  and  in  the  generous  courtesy  with  which  it  was 
dispensed.!  Both  appeared  early  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and, 
though  differing  at  times  in  the  choice  of  the  means  or  mode  of 
resistance,  manifested  equal  sensitiveness  to  foreign  aggression. 
Both  were  members  of  the  body  in  1769  when  it  was  dissolved  by 
Botetourt,  and  signed  the  agreement  put  forth  by  the  members, 
and  were  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  the  following  year 
and  recorded  their  names  on  the  roll  of  the  Mercantile  Association. 
If  Washington  in  the  March  Convention  of  1775  sustained  the 
resolutions  of  Henry  for  putting  the  colony  into  a  posture  of  de 
fence,  Cabell,  who  looked  at  affairs  rather  with  the  eyes  of  a  poli 
tician  than,  of  a  soldier,  opposed  them,  preferring  the  scheme  of 
a  regular  army  presented  by  Col.  Nicholas.  When  all  minor  topics 
were  merged  amid  the  clash  of  arms,  if  Washington  was  called  to 
military  service  abroad,  Cabell  was  charged  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety  with  the  civil  and  military  control  of  the  col 
ony,  If  the  previous  life  of  Washington  had  qualified  him  to  act 
with  effect  in  the  field,  the  services  of  Cabell  as  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  as  county-lieutenant,  as  a  man  of  business 
intimately  conversant  with  the  resources  of  the  colony,  and  as  a 
statesman  who  had  closely  watched  the  progress  of  the  public 
troubles,  and  his  personal  intrepidity,  pointed  him  out  as  the  fit 
compeer  of  those  eminent  men  into  whose  hands  at  the  dawn  of 
the  war  the  public  interests  were  confided.  There  were  also  about 
both  that  prestige,  that  undefinable  contexture  of  physical  and 
moral  qualities,  which,  though  neither  of  them  spoke  at  length  in 

*  The  DUry  of  Col.  Cabell,  written  in  his  own  neat  and  beautiful  hand,  from 
1769  to  1795,  is  still  extant,  and  "  attests  his  methodical  habits  as  a  planter  and 
man  of  business.  It  records  the  daily  operations  and  occurrences  on  the  vari 
ous  plantations  on  his  home  estate,  all  of  which  in  the  active  period  of  his 
life  he  visited  regularly  on  horseback  twice  in  the  course  of  the  day."  His 
diary  for  1782  is,  by  the  kindness  of  Henry  Carrington,  esq.,  now  before  me. 

t  "  His  dwelling  was  the  theatre  of  a  magnificent  hospitality,  embracing 
his  poorer  as  well  as  his  more  wealthy  countrymen.  He  was  singularly  gifted 
with  the  talent  of  entertaining  large  companies.  On  occasions  where  his  guests 
were  very  numerous,  he  would  divide  them  into  two  apartments,  attending  per 
sonally  to  them  in  succession,  quietly  and  without  seeming  eifort,  providing 
for  all,  and  making  all  easy,  contented,  and  happy."  Ibid. 


WILLIAM  CABELL  OF  UNION  HILL. 

deliberative  bodies,  insensibly  swayed  the  feelings  of  their  contem 
poraries,  and  which  caused  their  opinions  to  be  regarded  not  only 
as  the  opinions  of  individuals  but  as  those  of  large  and  leading 
classes  of  the  people.  That  both  of  them  shared  the  unbounded 
confidence  of  the  people  is  assuredly  true ;  and  it  is  equally  true 
that  under  every  temptation  in  war  and  peace  they  richly  deserved 
it.  Both  lived  to  behold  the  light  of  peace,  and  to  receive  the 
reward  of  all  their  toils  in  their  country's  service.  Both  cherished 
with  equal  warmth  the  union  of  the  states  ;  but  while  Washington 
in  common  with  nearly  all  the  military  men  of  the  Revolution  sus 
tained  the  federal  constitution  formed  by  the  body  of  which  he  was 
the  president,  Cabell,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Conven 
tion  called  to  pass  upon  it,  sympathising  warmly  with  the  opinions 
of  nearly  all  the  most  distinguished  statesmen  of  the  same  era 
who  had  held  no  executive  post  either  in  the  field  or  on  the  bench, 
sternly  refused  to  vote  for  the  ratification  of  that  instrument  with 
out  the  security  of  a  pledge  of  previous  amendments.  And  it 
ought  to  be  observed,  as  a  striking  fact  in  the  history  of  these  two 
men,  and  worthy  of  remembrance,  and  which  rarely  happened  in  the 
case  of  men  engaged  for  a  long  series  of  years  almost  exclusively 
in  the  public  service,  that,  with  all  the  drafts  which  an  unlim 
ited  hospitality  drew  upon  their  time  and  their  means,  and  with 
all  the  risks  which  the  frequent  absence  of  proprietors  from  their 
estates  renders  unavoidable  and  perilous,  both  by  a  thorough  do 
mestic  generalship  waxed  rich,  flourished  apace,  and  bequeathed 
a  princely  fortune  to  their  heirs. 

It  has  been  stated  that  Col.  Cabell  was  long  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses.  He  was  a  member  of  all  the  Conventions 
held  previously  to  that  of  May  1776,  and  in  this  last  mentioned 
oody,  in  which  he  voted  for  the  resolution  instructing  the  delegates 
of  Virginia  in  Congress  to  propose  independence,  he  was  one  of 
the  celebrated  committee  appointed  to  draft  a  Declaration  of  Rights 
and  a  plan  of  government,  and  gave  to  both  those  important  docu 
ments  his  cordial  support.  When  the  government  under  the  Con 
stitution  went  into  operation,  he  was  returned  to  the  Senate  from 
the  Arnherst  district,  and  was  subsequently  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Delegates.  His  public  life  may  be  said  to  have  closed  with  the 
adjournment  of  the  Federal  Convention  ;  but  from  an  interchange 
of  opinions  with  his  distinguished  contemporaries,  whose  letters 


118  WILLIAM  CABELL  OF  UNION   HILL. 

compose  the  materials  from  which  will  be  gathered  the  story  of  the 
age,*  he  was  always  abreast  of  his  times.  In  the  active  super 
vision  of  his  estates,  in  the  dispensation  of  a  generous  hospitality, 
as  the  venerable  and  venerated  presiding  justice  of  the  county  in 
which  he  lived,  delighted  to  behold  the  success  of  the  institution* 
which  he  and  his  compeers  had  founded,  and  cheered  by  the  hope 
of  their  perpetuity,  esteemed  by  the  purest  and  wisest  men  of  the 
age,  and  revered  by  his  neighbors  \rho  knew  him  longest  and  who 
loved  him  best,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  children  and  grandchildren, 
he  spent  his  last  days  in  peace  and  joy.f  He  lived  to  see  his 
eldest  son,  who  had  served  with  honor  as  a  lieutenant  colonel  in 
the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  had  been  his  colleague  in  the 
Federal  Convention,  the  representative  of  his  district  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States;  but  he  little  dreamed  that  one  of 
those  grandchildren,  now  gamboling  on  the  turf  of  Union  Hill, 
now  prattling  on  his  knee,  and  who  bore  his  name,  Would  become 
not  only  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  and  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  and  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  under  that  Constitution  which  he  so  warmly  opposed,  but 

*  Letter  of  George  Mason  to  Col.  Cabell.  Va.  Hist.  Register,  vol  III,  84  ; 
letters  of  R.  H.  Lee  to  same.  Ibid,  vol.  II,  20. 

f  If  Adam  Smith  declared  in  his  lectures  delivered  in  the  University  of  Glas 
gow  that  he  was  glad  to  know  that  Milton  wore  latchets  instead  of  buckles  in 
his  shoes,  the  young  Virginian  may  fitly  inquire  into  the  dress  of  our  revolu 
tionary  fathers.  A  letter  before  me  thus  describes  Col.  Cabell  as  he  appeared 
in  his  old  age  :  "  He  was  six  feet  high,  with  large  frame,  well  formed,  of  erect 
carriage,  and  rather  corpulent  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life.  His  features  were 
remarkable  for  strength  ;  his  nose  was  slightly  aquiline  ;  his  forehead  was  capa 
cious  and  well  developed,  and  his  head  became  bald  as  he  advanced  to  old  age. 
There  was  nothing  peculiar  in  his  dress,  being  that  of  the  planters  and  fanners 
of  good  condition  of  his  day ;  namely,  a  round  hat,  a  white  cambric  stock 
buckled  behind,  a  long-tailed  coat,  a  single-breasted  waistcoat  with  flap  pockets, 
short  breeches  buckled  at  the  knees,  long  stockings,  and  shoes  with  large  buck 
les.  The  habitual  expression  of  his  countenance  was  grave,  thoughtful,  and 
dignified.  He  was  generally  taciturn  ;  but  in  entertaining  his  friends  and  ac 
quaintance,  he  became  affable  and  communicative  ;  and  he  possessed  the  hap 
py  talent  of  adapting  his  conversation  to  the  ages  and  conditions  of  his 
associates.  His  thoughts,  however,  were  always  briefly  expressed,  and  bore  the 
impress  of  the  sound  judgment  and  powerful  mind  with  which  he  was  gifted. 
His  appearance  was  eminently  dignified  and  commanding ;  in  this  respect  he 
was  equal,  if  not  superior  to  any  one  I  have  ever  seen,  save  Mr.  Jefferson  and 
Mr.  Clay."  The  dress  above  described  was  worn  by  Col.  Cabell  towards  the 
close  of  the  century.  His  dress  at  the  Revolution  was  rather  different,  and 
consisted  of  a  cocked  hat,  a  single-breasted  coat  with  wide  sleeves  studded 
with  buttons  about  the  cuffs,  and  with  large  pocket  flaps  and  a  standing  collar, 
a  double-breasted  waistcoat,  with  wide  pocket  flaps,  descending  to  the  hips, 
buckskin  breeches  fastened  at  the  knee,  and  high  boots  with  tassels.  His  hair 
was  powdered,  and  a  long-  queue  dangled  behind.  He  was  born  in  March  1730 
and  died  in  the  spring  of  1798. 


WILLIAM  CABELL  OF  UNION   HILL.  119 

the  accredited  envoy  of  his  country  at  the  court  of  France  at  a 
period  when  the  crown  of  that  kingdom  was  plucked  from  the  head 
of  one  Bourbon,  and,  mainly  through  his  advisement  and  that  of  La 
Fayette,  placed  on  the  head  of  another  Bourbon,  and,  after  a  lapse 
of  years,  an  envoy  at  the  same  court  when  the  crown  was  plucked 
once  more  from  the  head  of  a  Bourbon — and  forever — and  placed 
upon  the  head  of  a  man  who  with  his  name  possessed  some  of  the 
qualities  of  the  young  general  whose  dazzling  victories  on  the  soil 
of  Italy  had  surpassed  the  glory  of  ancient  time,  whose  triumphs 
he  had  hailed  with  applause,  and  who  he  fondly  but  alas !  vainly 
hoped  would  build  upon  solid  foundations  in  the  old  world  institu 
tions  similar  to  those  which  he  himself  had  helped  to  lay  in  the 
new.* 

In  looking  over  the  Convention  one  noble  head  was  seen,  which 
might  well  attract  the  observation  of  every  admirer  of  genius  and 
worth,  and  especially  of  every  lover  of  this  institution.  It  was  the 
head  of  a  man  who  was  the  delegate  of  this  city  in  the  body,  and 
though  represented  by  his  substitute  in  the  earlier  part  of  its  ses 
sion,!  appeared  before  its  close,  and  bore  an  honorable  part  in  its 
proceedings.  He  had  been  a  student  of  this  College,  its  repre- 

*  The  Hon.  William  Cabell  Rives  is  the  grandson  of  Col.  Cabell.  The  late 
William  H.  Cabell,  President  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  who  was  the  son  of 
Nicholas  Cabell,  was  his  nephew.  But  of  all  who  have  borne  the  name  of 
the  patriarch  of  Union  Hill,  none  surpassed  in  native  genius  the  late  William 
Cabell  Carrington  of  Richmond,  a  great  grand-nephew,  who  died  suddenly  in 
that  city  in  the  winter  of  1851  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  the  son 
of  Henry  Carrington  esq.  of  Charlotte,  was  educated  at  Hampden  Sidney  and  at 
the  University  of  Virginia,  studied  law,  and,  having  selected  the  press  as  the 
scene  of  his  labors,  conducted  the  Richmond  Times  with  an  ability  and  a  grace 
that  were  instantly  recognized  abroad,  and  were  duly  appreciated  at  home. 
The  intelligence  of  the  death  of  no  young  man  since  the  death  of  Dabney 
Carr  and  John  Thompson  ever  fell  more  sadly  on  the  public  ear.  He  was  a 
member  elect  of  the  House  of  Delegates  from  Richmond,  and  was  about  to 
embark  in  a  career  for  which  his  admirable  talents  eminently  qualified  him, 
when  he  was  suddenly  cut  otf.  I  knew  him  from  his  youth,  admired  his  vir 
tues,  beheld  with  pride  his  advancing  fame,  and  deeply  deplored  his  death. 
And  now  when.  I  compare  him  with  others,  I  the  more  regret  his  fate,  and  can 
truly  say  :  Heu  quanto  minus  cum  reliquis  versari  quam  tui  meminisse  ! 

t  Whenever  a  member  of  the  various  Conventions  was  appointed  a  delegate  to 
Congress,  he  did  not  vacate  his  seat,  which  was  filled  during  his  absence  by  a 
substitute  chosen  by  the  people,  who  withdrew  on  his  return.  In  the  Conven 
tion  of  December  1775  the  substitute  of  Wythe  was  Joseph  Prentis.  In  the 
present  Convention  his  substitute  was  Edmund  Randolph.  George  Gilmer  was 
the  substitute  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  On  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  no 
member  of  Congress,  not  even  the  Treasurer  who  had  held  a  seat  in  the  House 
of  Burgesses  for  a  hundred  and  sixty  years,  could  hold  a  seat  in  either  house  of 
the  General  Assembly.  As  early  as  1758  Wythe  represented  William  and  Mary 


120  GEORGE    WYTHE. 

sentative  eighteen  years  before  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  one  of 
its  official  visitors,  and  subsequently  became  one  its  of  most  distin 
guished  professors,  had  long  held  the  foremost  rank  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses  of  which  he  had  been  clerk,  and  at  the  bar  of  the  General 
Court,  and  had  borne  a  capital  part  through  all  the  stages  of  that 
contest  which  was  now  to  be  settled  by  the  sword.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  such  characteristics  met  in  one  man  only,  and  that  man 
was  GEORGE  WYTHE.  He  was  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age.  He 
may  be  said  to  have  inherited  a  literary  turn,  as  his  maternal  an 
cestor  Keith,  who  had  emigrated  to  the  colony  toward  the  latter 
part  of  the  previous  century,  had  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  let 
ters,  and  had  recorded  his  essays  in  a  folio  volume  seen  by  Call, 
which  may  still  be  extant,  and  which  would  exhibit  some  curious 
specimens  of  our  early  literature.!  His  paternal  ancestor,  Thomas 
Wythe,  as  early  as  1718,  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
in  which  he  represented  for  many  years  the  county  of  Elizabeth 
City,  where  in  1726  George  Wythe  was  born.  He  was  the  second 
son,  and  it  is  reported  that,  having  lost  his  father  in  infancy,  he  was 
taught  Latin  by  his  mother,  and  even  Greek;  and  it  is  not  improba 
ble  that  a  tender  mother,  anxious  for  the  progress  of  her  orphan 
child,  adopted  a  plan  which  had  long  been  recommended  by  Locke 
in  his  tract  on  education,  (which,  by  the  way,  was  better  known 
then  than  now,)  and  may  occasionally  have  held  a  translation  in 
her  hand  while  her  boy  was  toying  with  the  original ;  but  that  she 
or  any  one  else  ever  seriously  taught  him  Latin  or  Greek  in  early 
life  is  out  of  the  question;  for,  at  a  much  later  period,  perhaps  in 
middle  life,  certainly  when  his  hand-writing  was  matured,  and  he 
was  studying  the  Iliad  at  a  time  when  the  English  of  all  Greek 
words  could  be  reached  only  through  the  Latin,  his  manuscripts 
still  extant  show  that  he  had  not  advanced  far  enough  to  spell  the 
most  common  Latin  words  correctly.  He  served  his  apprentice 
ship  to  the  law  under  his  uncle  John  Lewis  of  Prince  George  ;  but, 
coming  into  the  possession  of  a  respectable  estate  by  the  death  of 
his  elder  brother  and  of  his  mother,  he  led  a  careless  life,  and 
wasted  in  idleness  some  years  of  his  }^outh — precious  years,  the 
loss  of  which  he  deplored  to  his  dying  day.  All  his  substantial  ac 
quisitions  were  the  work  of  after  life.  The  intimate  friend  of  Fau- 

*Call  probably  saw  the  book  in  possession  of  Mr.  Wythe.     As  Major  Duval 
was  the  executor  of  Wythe,  it  is  possible  his  executor  may  be  able  to  trace  it. 


GEORGE    WYTHE.  121 

quier  and  Small,  he  became  enamored  of  that  learning  which 
imparted  to  their  conversation  its  richness  and  beauty ;  and,  as  he 
saw  that  classical  quotation  was  the  countersign  not  only  of  scholars 
but  of  intelligent  and  well-bred  men  abroad,  he  resolved  to  repair 
the  defects  of  his  early  education.  That  he  ultimately  attained  to  a 
respectable  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek  is  certain ;  and  his 
warmest  admirers  may  fairly  concede  that  he  did  not  reach  that 
critical  skill  in  the  learned  tongues  which  is  rarely  compassed  by 
those  who  slight  them  in  youth.  But  his  literary  accomplishments, 
great  in  themselves,  were  yet  greater  by  a  comparison  with  those 
of  his  contemporaries ;  and  he  was  able  to  draw  from  the  inexhausti 
ble  sources  of  ancient  eloquence  and  poetry  those  pleasures  which 
were  the  pride  of  his  manhood  and  the  delight  of  his  old  age.  Nor 
was  his  eminent  merit  founded  on  his  mere  literary  acquisitions.  In 
the  solid  learning  of  the  law  he  stood,  with  the  exception  of  Thom 
son  Mason,  almost  alone.  As  a  speaker  he  was  always  able,  often 
most  impressive,  and  at  times  even  eloquent.  His  preparations 
were  made  with  conscientious  care,  and  he  was  most  successful  in 
presenting  his  case  in  its  best  aspect;  but  he  sometimes  lost  under 
the  cross-fire  of  skillful  opponents  his  self-possession  in  reply,  and 
not  unfrequently  failed  to  rally  until  the  day  was  lost.  But  the 
crowning  graces  of  this  good  man  were  his  personal  independence, 
which,  in  a  condition  of  worldly  affairs  barely  removed  from  want,* 
was  unassailable  by  fear  or  favor,  his  love  of  country,  which,  nur 
tured  by  his  contemplations  of  classic  antiquity,  knew  neither  limit 
nor  compromise,  and  the  unblemished  purity  and  modesty  of  his 
character.  That  miserable  fear  of  risking  popularity  on  any  great 
occasion,  which,  like  a  spectre,  haunts  the  -daily  as  well  as  the 
nightly  visions  of  the  modern  politician,  never  crossed  his  mind. 
He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  boldest  defenders  of  the  rights  of  the 
colonies  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  which  he  had  been  a  member 
as  early  as  1758;  yet,  while  he  drew  during  the  session  of  1764  the 
famous  memorial  to  the  House  of  Commons  in  terms  so  strong  as 
to  excite  alarm,  and  which  were  pruned  down  by  his  more  cautious 
compeers,  he  opposed  the  resolutions  of  Henry  against  the  stamp 

*  Mr.  Wythe  lost  many  of  his  most  valuable  negroes  during  the  Revolution, 
and  apportioned  half  of  his  remaining  estate  among  his  relations.  His  salary 
as  sole  chancellor  of  Virginia  was  long  only  three  hundred  pounds,  Virginia  cur 
rency,  and  his  official  duties  forced  him  to  resign  in  1789  his  professorship  in 
"William  and  Mary  and  to  reside  in  the  expensive  city  of  Richmond. 


122  GEORGE    WYTHE. 

act  the  yepr  following  on  the  ground  assumed  by  Pendleton  and 
others  that  the  petitions  of  the  previous  year  had  not  yet  had  suffi 
cient  time  to  work  their  effect  on  the  minds  of  the  British  people, 
and  that  it  was  the  true  policy  of  the  colony  to  put  the  ministry  as 
far  as  possible  in  the  wrong.  Of  all  the  learned  lawyers  of  the  col 
ony  he  alone  upheld  in  its  utmost  extent  the  view  of  the  relation  of 
the  colonies  with  Great  Britain  which  had  been  maintained  by  Mr. 
Jefferson  in  his  Summary  View.  Although  he  opposed  the  resolu 
tions  of  Henry  for  putting  the  colonies  into  a  posture  of  defence, 
which  were  adopted  by  the  March  Convention  of  1775,  he  approved 
the  more  efficient  scheme  of  Col.  Nicholas.  A  thread  of  his  quaker 
descent  might  be  clearly  traced  throughout  life  in  the  general  con 
texture  of  his  character,  but  his  patriotism  was  of  too  bold  a  stamp 
to  shrink  from  the  dangers  of  the  field.*  Hence  he  was  among  the 
first  to  join  a  volunteer  corps  with  a  musket  on  his  shoulder  and 
without  a  commission  in  his  pocket.  To  defend  his  country  was  so 
paramount  a  duty  in  his  eyes  that  mere  rank  in  an  army  no  more, 
entered  his  thoughts  than  the  relative  position  of  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses  or  at  the  communion  table.  He  was  returned 
by  the  city  of  Williamsburg  to  the  December  Convention  of  1775  ; 
but,  as  he  was  absent  from  the  city  in  attendance  on  Congress,  to  a 
seat  in  which  body  he  had  been  chosen  the  August  previous,  he 
was  represented  tby  Joseph  Prentis.  In  June  1776  he  strenuously 
supported  on  the  floor  of  Congress  the  resolution  introduced  by  the 
Virginia  delegation  declaratory  of  independence,  and  affixed  his 
name — where  it  will  be  read  forever — on  the  immortal  declaration 
of  the  Fourth  of  July.  It  has  been  observed  that  he  was  absent 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  session  of  the  Convention  now  sitting; 
but  he  was  present  near  the  close,  and  was  appointed  one  of  a  com 
mittee  of  four  to  prepare  the  devices  for  a  seal  of  the  Common 
wealth,  which  was  done  and  was  approved  of  by  the  Convention.! 

*  His  maternal  grandfather  Keith  was  a  quaker. 

^  t  As  Mr.  Wythe  bore  an  active  part  in  Congress  in  the  debate  on  the  resolu 
tion  declaring  independence,  and  signed  the  declaration  of  independence  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  it  may  be  proper  to  show  that  he  was  present  in  the  Virginia 
Convention  sitting  at  the  same  time.  The  journal  of  the  Convention  shows  that 
he  was  appointed  on  the  first  of  July  on  the  committee  to  prepare  the  seal,  and 
"was  added  to  the  committee  to  bring  in  an  ordinance  for  punishing  the  enemies 
of  America,"  an  act  to  be  instantly  performed.  Now,  as  a  member  is  never  ap 
pointed  to  a  committee  during  his  absence,  and  certainly  never  "  added"  to  a 
committee  already  existing  unless  he  were  personally  present,  he  must  have 
taken  his  seat  in  the  body.  He  could  not  then  have  signed  the  declaration  of 


GEORGE    WYTHE.  123 

Of  his  subsequent  career  as  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Delegates; 
as  one  of  the  committee  of  Revisors ;  as  a  professor  of  law  in  this 
college,  gathering  the  gifted  youth  of  his  beloved  state  under  the 
shadow  of  his  wing;  as  a  judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery  and 
necessarily  a  judge  of  the  first  Court  of  Appeals,  the  duties  of  which 
office  he  discharged  with  eminent  ability  and  with  a  spirit  of  inde 
pendence  which  placed  him  foremost  in  pronouncing  for  the  first 
time  under  the  constitution  that  an  act  of  Assembly  in  conflict  with 
that  instrument  is  null  and  void;*  as  sole  chancellor,  the  duties  of 
which  office  he  discharged  until  the  time  of  his  death  in  June  1806, 
with  equal  ability,  with  unwearied  industry,  and  with  general 
applause,  albeit  one  of  his  decisions,  that  memorable  one  on  the  va 
lidity  of  the  British  debts,  ran  counter  to  a  public  prejudice  almost 
universal ;  as  a  member  of  the  Convention  which  formed  the  fede 
ral  constitution  and  of  the  Convention  which  ratified  that  instrument 
in  behalf  of  this  Commonwealth ;  as  a  sage,  diffusing  around  him  a 
taste  for  philosophy  and  letters,  and  instilling  into  the  minds  of  his 
pupils  those  principles  which  impelled  them  to  imitate  his  virtues 
and  even  to  eclipse  the  splendor  of  his  fame  ;t  and  of  his  mournful 
death ;  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  speak  at  large  at  present.  In  respect 
of  him,  however,  it  is  just  to  say,  that  in  a  course  of  fifty  years  un 
interrupted  official  service,  there  was  no  pause  in  the  public  affec 
tion.  While  the  eloquent  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  the  venerable 
Richard  Bland,  assailed  by  personal  enemies,  sought  in  person  from 
the  Convention  or  the  Assembly  an  inquisition  into  their  conduct, 
(which  resulted  in  their  honorable  acquittal) ;  while  Harrison  and 
Braxton,  absent  in  the  public  service,  were  harshly  superseded  in 
Congress  by  an  ungenerous  manceuvret  made  for  the  nonce,  the 

independence  on  the  fourth  of  July  when  it  was  signed  on  paper,  but  probably 
signed  it  as  did  Richard  Henry  Lee  on  the  second  of  August  when  it  was  en 
grossed  on  parchment  and  signed  by  the  members.  R.  H.  Lee,  who  offered  in 
Congress  the  resolution  of  independence,  and  who  sustained  it  in  debate,  was 
also  present  on  the  1st  of  July  in  the  Convention,  and  was  also  appointed  on  the 
committee  to  prepare  the  seal.  It  is  now  well  known  that  some  of  the  signa 
tures  to  the  Declaration  were  added  some  weeks  and  in  one  instance  some 
months  after  the  fourth  of  July. 

*  See  his  opinion  in  the  case  of  the  Commonweath  vs.  Caton  and  others, 
which,  in  the  language  of  Call,  "will  ever  be  a  memorial  to  his  honor." 

t  What  a  patriotic  cartoon — a  School  of  Virginia  greater  than  the  School  of 
Athens— might  the  brush  of  the  Virginia  artist  depict  in  Wythe  laying  down  the 
law  in  the  midst  of  such  pupils  as  Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Monroe,  John  Mar 
shall,  James  Innis,  George  Nicholas,  Littleton  Waller  Tazewell,  Henry  Clay 
and  John  Wickham  ? 

|  By  reducing  the  delegation  from  seven  to  five. 


124  GEORGE    WYTHE. 

breath  of  suspicion  was  never  blown  on  the  name  of  Wythe.  He 
made  no  public  confession  of  his  religious  faith  ;  and,  as  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  has  observed  respecting  him  that  "that  religion  must  be  good 
which  could  produce  a  life  of  such  exemplary  virtue,"  there  have 
been  doubts  of  his  belief  in  the  Christian  system ;  but  these  are  at 
once  and  forever  dispelled  by  the  declarations  of  Mr.  Munford,  who 
stated,  in  his  eulogy  pronounced  over  the  corpse  of  Wythe  in  the 
Hall  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  that  prayers  for  the  mercies  of  his 
Redeemer  were  among  his  most  fervent  and  latest  aspirations.  Need 
I  recall  to  this  assembly  sitting  in  a  hall  which  has  often  resounded 
with  the  echoes  of  his  youthful  voice  and  in  which  in  later  years  his 
familiar  presence  has  so  often  been,  the  form  and  features  of  this 
illustrious  man  such  as  he  was  when  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Con 
vention  of  1776?  Shall  I  point  to  that  slender  form,  not  emaciated 
and  bowed  as  with  thirty  additional  years'  arduous  labor  on  the 
bench  and  in  the  closet  it  subsequently  became,  but  still  erect  and 
active,  that  over-arching  forehead  with  its  wide,  magnificent  sweep, 
and  those  dark  grey  eyes  that  beamed  beneath  it,  that  Roman  nose, 
those  finely  chiseled  lips  on  which  the  flame  of  conscious  inspiration 
seems  yet  to  burn,  that  broad  and  well  defined  chin,  all  making  up  a 
profile  which  would  be  singled  out  of  a  thousand  as  the  profile  of  a 
man  whose  heart  was  the  home  of  all  the  gentle  affections,  but 
whose  intellect  owned  the  supremacy  of  duty  alone  ?  No,  sir,  it 
were  an  idle  task.  More  than  a  hundred  years  have  passed  since 
he  first  appeared  within  these  walls  or  received  your  honors,  and 
yet,  as  his  name  is  on  every  tongue,  so  his  form  is  reflected  in 
every  eye,  and  his  image  enshrined  in  every  heart.  And  let  us 
believe  and  declare,  that,  when  fresh  generations  a  century  hence 
shall  celebrate,  as  we  do  now,  the  immortal  names  inscribed  on  the 
roll  of  William  and  Mary,  the  honors  which  they  accord  to  the 
worth  of  GEORGE  WYTHE  will  be  the  fairest  and  fullest  measure 
of  their  own.* 

*  Concerning  Wythe  consult  a  sketch  of  his  life  in  Sanderson's  Biography  of 
the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Mr.  Jefferson's  lettter  to  San 
derson  and  Mr.  Jefferson's  memoir  of  himself  in  the  first  volume  of  his  writings, 
Mr.  Clay's  letter  to  B.  B  Minor  esq.  in  the  new  edition  of  Wythe's  Reports, 
and  in  the  Va.  Historical  Register  vol.  V.  162,  his  manuscripts  in  the  Historical 
Society  of  Virginia,  Mun ford's  funeral  oration  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer  of  th« 
thirteenth  and  seventeenth  of  June  1806,  Wirt's  Life  of  Henry,  Call's  sketch  in 
the  fourth  volume  of  his  Reports,  journals  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  of  Con 
gress  for  1775-'6,  of  the  Conventions,  and  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  and  our  his 
tories  of  Virginia,  especially  Charles  Campbell's  Introduction;  Carrington  Memo- 


WYTHE   AND    PENDLETON   COMPARED.  127 

knowledge  he  possessed    available  on    the  instant.     His  intimacy 
with  the  ablest  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  which  he  en 
tered  early,  gave  a  spur  to  his  ambition,  and   he   had  not  held   his 
seat  long  before  his  acquaintance    with   current   business  and  his 
ready  and  graceful  elocution  marked  him  out  as  one  of  the  rising 
men  of  the  day.     Such  was   the  man   whom  Wythe,   reverting  to 
his  studies  after  a  long  truancy,  was  called  on  to  encounter.     From 
what  has  been  said  it  could  easily  have   been   foreseen  what  the 
result  of  such  an    encounter  would  be.     It  has  rarely    happened 
that  any  man  who  engaged  late  in  life  in  a  learned  profession,  and 
certainly  such  a  profession  as  the  law,  ever  attained  to  the   highest 
degree  of  excellence  in  all  the  requisites  which  ensure    complete 
success.     Wythe,  whose  early  advantages  were  greater  than  those 
of  Pendleton,  had   allowed  the   spring-time   of  life  to  pass  unim 
proved,  and  when,  as  middle  life  approached,  he  grappled  seriously 
with  his  studies,  he  had  difficulties  to  surmount  which  would  have 
obstructed  altogether  the  course  of  ordinary  men,  and   which  his 
genius  and  application  did  not  entirely  overcome.     General    litera 
ture  he  had  probably  never  altogether  neglected,  perhaps  not  even 
the   literature  of  the  law;  but  a  knowledge  of  adjudicated  cases, 
the  subtleties  of  special  pleading,  and  what  may  be  called  the  hab 
its  of  the  bar,  were  to  be  learned   by  him,  when  these  had  been 
for  years  the  exclusive  meditation  of  Pendleton,  who  was  five  years 
his  senior,  and  who  from  his   twelfth  year  had  never  lost  a  day 
from  the  eager  pursuit  of  his  profession.     Moreover,  in  the  physi 
cal  qualities  not  unessential   to  success  at  the  bar,  Pendleton  not 
only  excelled  Wythe,  but  most  of  his  contemporaries,  for  his 
son  was  of  the  first  order  of  manly  beauty,   h"    >Jv^<       'c 
silver-toned   and  under  perfect  control,  and  his  manners  were  so 
fascinating  as  to  charm   all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.     These 
advantages  Wythe  did  not  share   in  an  equal   degree.     Hence  the 
only  ground  of  success  on  which  Wythe  could  build  was  to  lay  in 
a  greater  stock  of  legal  knowledge  than  that  possessed  by  Pendle 
ton  ;  for  Pendleton,  who  had  studied   law  rather  as  it  was  to  be 
found  in  the  cases  than  as  a  system,  and  may  be  said  rather  to  have 
known  a  great  deal  of  law  than  to   have   been  a  master  of  the 
science,  approached  nearer  the  character  of  a  great  advocate  than 
of  a  great  lawyer ;  and  it  was  to  this  point  the  studies   of  Wythe 
were  directed,  all  things  considered,  with  wonderful  success.     That 


128  WYTHE   AND    PENDLETON    COMPARED. 

he  more  thoroughly  mastered  the  learning  of  his  profession  than 
any  of  his  contemporaries,  excepting  Thomson  Mason,  seems  to 
be  conceded  ;  yet  in  his  contests  with  Pendleton,  though  clad  in 
the  substantial  armor  of  the  law,  he  not  only  felt  at  times  the 
point  of  his  lance,  and  reeled  from  the  shock,  but  was  sometimes 
fairly  rolled  in  the  dust.  As  members  of  the  bar  and  as  politicians 
they  shared  equally  the  public  esteem  :  yet  it  may  appear  singular 
that  in  the  latter  character  they  seem  to  have  reversed  their  rela 
tive  positions  toward  each  other.  Wythe  might  be  supposed  from 
his  love  of  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law  to  have  been  averse 
from  change,  and  to  favor  a  pacific  policy ;  and  Pendleton  from 
his  habit  of  regarding  the  law  as  a  mere  instrument  for  effecting 
his  purposes  might  have  been  supposed  to  view  changes  in  law  and 
politics  as  matters  of  convenience  ;  yet  the  reverse  proved  to  be 
true.  The  first  illustration  of  this  difference  may  be  drawn  from 
the  session  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  1764,  when  Wythe  wrote 
the  memorial  to  the  Commons  in  a  temper  that  would  have  suited 
a  much  later  day;  Pendleton  was  for  modulating  its  tones  to  the 
diseased  ear  of  a  reckless  House  of  Commons.  When  the  precise 
relation  of  the  colonies  to  Great  Britain  became  the  theme  of  dis 
cussion,  Wythe  boldly  contended  that  the  true  relation  was  that 
which  Scotland  held  previous  to  the  act  of  Union — a  common  king, 
but  nought  else  in  common,  while  Pendleton  halted  at  what  has  been 
called  the  half-way  house  of  John  Dickinson.  When  the  constitu 
tion  took  effect,  both  were  members  of  the  first  House  of  Delegates, 
and  were  subsequently  placed  on  the  Committee  of  Re  visors  ;  and 

were  signally  reversed.     Pendleton,  the 
,  clung  with  death-like  pertinacity  to  the 

/law  of  primogeniture  and  entails,  and  to  an  established  church; 
Wythe  saw  at  a  glance  the  incompatibility  of  such  institutions  with 
a  republican  system,  and  advocated  their  immediate  repeal.  Both 
filled  the  chair  of  the  House  for  a  single  session,  and  each  won 
distinction  as  a  presiding  officer.  On  the  organization  of  the  new 
judiciary  each  was  called  to  the  highest  seat  in  his  respective  court, 
and,  although  their  decisions  more  than  once  smacked  of  their 
ancient  warfare,  were  equally  acceptable  to  the  people.  In  the 
Virginia  Convention  called  to  discuss  the  federal  constitution,  of 
which  body  Pendleton  was  the  president  and  Wythe  the  chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  the  Whole  during  its  sittings,  both  voted  for  the 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE.  131 

history,  it  had  never  borne  before.  THOMAS  LUDWELL  and  RICH 
ARD  HENRY  LEE  were  brothers.  Ludwell,  the  elder  of  the 
two,  held  a  conspicuous  position  as  a  patriot  and  lawyer,  and  died 
before  the  close  of  the  war;  but  not  until  he  had  filled  the  most  re 
sponsible  trusts  with  fidelity  and  honor.  He  had  been  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  was  a  member  of  the  Conventions  of  July 
and  December  1775,  and  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  Convention  now  sitting  as  a 
member  for  Stafford,  and  was  placed  on  the  committee  appointed  to 
draft  a  declaration  of  rights  and  a  plan  of  government.  On  the  or 
ganization  of  the  new  government  under  the  constitution  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  five  Revisors,  and  was  elected  one  of  the  five 
judges  of  the  General  Court.*  In  the  midst  of  his  useful  career  he 
fell  a  martyr  to  disease.  But  such  was  the  reputation  of  RICHARD 
HENRY  LEE,  that  the  fame  of  almost  all  his  distinguished  brothers 
was  lost  in  the  brightness  of  its  blaze.  He  was  born  at  Stratford, 
his  father's  seat  on  the  Potomac,  on  the  twentieth  of  January  1732, 
was  put  to  school  in  Yorkshire,  England,  returning  home  before  his 
twentieth  year.  As  early  as  1755  he  entered  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses,  and  continued  a  member  at  intervals  until  the  war  of  the 
Revolution.  Although  a  member  of  the  House  he  was  not  present 
when  Henry  offered  his  resolutions  against  the  stamp  act,  but  ap 
proved  their  spirit ;  and  on  his  return  home  organized  an  associa 
tion  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  execution  of  the  act.t  In  1770 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Mercantile  Association  so  often  referred  to;} 
and  in  1773  he  was  one  of  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  called 
into  existence  mainly  by  his  influence,  and  in  1774  was  deputed  to 
the  first  Congress  where  he  made  one  of  the  most  brilliant  displays 
of  his  eloquence.  The  prominent  part  which  he  sustained  in  Con 
gress  of  which  he  was  a  member  at  intervals  until  that  body  was 
superseded  by  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution,  and  of  which 
he  was  for  a  time  the  president,  is  now  known  to  all.  The  recol 
lections  of  his  able  state-papers,  of  his  speeches,  and  especially  of 
that  patriotism,  which  glowed  the  fiercer  amid  the  sternest  trials, 

*  The  other  judges  were  Joseph  Jones,  John  Blair,  Thomson  Mason,  and 
Paul  Carrington. 

f  For  a  copy  of  the  Westmoreland  Association  see  Va.  Historical  Register  Vol 
II,  14. 

JVa.  Hist.  Register  Vol.  Ill,  18. 


132  RICHARD   HENRY   LEE. 

are  among  the  most  precious  in  the  estimation  not  only  of  this  com 
monwealth  but  of  the  country  at  large.* 

And  here  it  is  proper  to  animadvert  to  the  popular  error  sanc 
tioned  by  the  authority  of  the  eloquent  and  patriotic  author  of 
the  life  of  Patrick  Henry,  which  is  in  substance  that  in  the  con 
tinental  Congress  the  lustre  of  Lee's  fame  was  dimmed  by  his  in 
ability  to  write  in  a  manner  commensurate  with  his  reputation  as 
a  public  speaker.  A  more  grievous  mistake  was  never  made  by 
one  man  of  genius  in  estimating  the  merits  of  another.  That  such 
was  apparently  the  case  with  Patrick  Henry  may  be  granted ; 
though  in  his  case  even,  much,  very  much  must  be  conceded  to 
indolence  and  an  insuperable  aversion  from  the  labors  of  the  closet; 
for  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  not  that  Henry  was  too  indolent 
to  write  papers,  but  that  he  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  read 
papers  when  written  by  others ;  but  the  case  of  Lee  was  widely 
diverse.  The  opinion  of  his  age  and  of  his  contemporaries  in 
Congress  \vas  wholly  different  from  the  modern  notion ;  and  this 
opinion  was  exhibited  in  Congress  in  a  mode  that  admits  of  no  dis 
pute  ;  for  to  Lee  was  committed  the  preparation  of  the  most  impor 
tant  papers  of  the  times,  and  these  papers  were  approved  in  many 
.instances  without  alteration  or  amendment,  and  adopted  by  the 
body.  If  we  look  at  the  number  of  those  drawn  by  Lee,  their 
adaptedness  to  the  occasion,  the  accurate  knowledge  of  law  and  fact 
which  they  exhibit,  their  temperate  yet  animated  spirit,  the  ease 
and  elegance  of  their  style,  we  know  not,  if  called  on  to  select 
from  the  names  of  the  most  eminent  men  who  had  then  excelled 
alike  on  the  floor  of  parliament  and  in  the  closet,  after  excepting 
Bolingbroke  and  Burke,  where  his  superior  among  men  of  the  Eng 
lish  race  can  be  found.  The  origin  of  the  common  error  may  be 
readily  seen.  In  the  first  place,  the  authorship  of  the  great  pa 
pers  of  the  revolutionary  era  written  in  our  state  as  well  as  in  our 
national  councils,  though  known  at  the  time,  had  slipped  from  the 
public  mind,  was  unsupported  by  written  evidence,  and,  until  re- 

*  See  the  life  of  R.  H.  Leo  by  his  grandson,  in  which  his  congressional  career 
is  dwelt  upon  at  length.  With  the  exception  of  a  notice  of  Wythe,  Nelson  and 
Harrison,  in  a  work  called  the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
Wirt's  Life  of  Henry,  and  Tucker's  Life  of  Jefferson,  there  is  no  other  biography 
of  any  member  of  the  Convention,  and  this  consideration  has  led  me  more  into 
detail  in  this  discourse  than  would  otherwise  have  been  necessary.  Not  even 
Madison  has  a  biographer.  There  are  two  men  living,  either  of  whom  could 
perform  the  task  well. 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE.  133 

cently,  was  almost  unknown.  The  examination  of  manuscripts 
and  the  publication  of  papers  from  private  depositories  have  within 
a  few  years  past  shed  much  light  upon  the  subject.  It  should  be 
remarked,  in  the  second  place,  that  those  who  look  into  the  reports 
of  the  Revolution  for  that  elaborate  argumentation  and  exquisite 
polish  which  mark  the  great  state-papers  of  the  present  day,  will 
be  disappointed.  Most  of  the  papers  of  that  day  were  written  on 
the  epur  of  the  moment  in  a  spirit  of  business,  and  were  never  re 
vised  by  their  authors  ;  nor  should  it  be  overlooked  that  long  state- 
papers  written  rather  in  the  style  of  an  eclectic  professor  than  of  a 
practical  statesman,  is  wholly  the  growth  of  modern  times,  and, 
we  may  add,  of  recent  American  growth.  The  most  famous  pro 
ductions  of  British  statesmen,  even  on  questions  of  the  greatest 
moment,  are  relatively  brief.  The  letters  of  Jefferson  to  Hammond 
and  of  Madison  to  Erskine,  which  were  justly  deemed  master 
pieces  of  diplomatic  writing,  savor  in  their  brevity  of  their  British 
models.  The  long  and  elaborate  disquisition  of  recent  papers,  their 
rhetorical  embellishments,  the  popular  appeals  flashing  through 
them,  which  show  that  the  writers  were  evidently  looking  beyond 
their  present  purpose,  however  suited  to  the  sphere  of  the  stately 
review,  or  excellent  as  specimens  of  demonstrative  eloquence, 
may  be  justly  arraigned  at  the  bar  of  a  correct  literary  or  practical 
taste.  Of  this  gaudy  ambition  not  the  slightest  trace  appears  in  the 
papers  of  the  Revolution.  These  were  written  by  men  who  were 
thoroughly  conversant  with  the  facts  of  the  case  in  hand  and  with 
the  learning  applicable  to  them,  who  were  dealing  with  the  most 
serious  issues,  and  who  sought  the  single  object  of  making  upon  the 
minds  of  others  the  impression  of  their  own.  Mawkish  sensibility, 
meretricious  ornament  or  artifice,  the  turn  of  a  period  or  the  beauty 
of  an  illustration,  had  no  charm  in  the  eyes  of  men  who  well  knew 
that,  if  they  failed  to  be  successful  in  the  struggle  in  which  they 
were  engaged,  their  fortunes  would  be  confiscated,  their  families 
exposed  to  want,  and  themselves  destined  to  the  gibbet  or  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  a  prison-ship.  With  such  men  statesmanship 
was,  as  indeed  it  really  is,  nothing  more  than  the  means  of  doing 
the  public  business,  whether  with  the  tongue  or  the  pen,  as 
public  business  ought  to  be  done — speedily,  effectually,  and  honora 
bly.  It  was  this  masterly  execution  that  called  forth  the  gratula- 
tions  of  Chatham.  Now  one  of  the  papers  which  kindled  the  enthusi- 


134  RICHARD   HENRY   LEE. 

asm  of  Chatham  is  said  to  have  been  from  the  pen  of  Lee.*  If  we 
were  required  to  point  out  a  paper  of  that  epoch,  which  possessed 
the  double  merit  of  including  all  the  qualities  which  a  public  writing 
ought  to  possess,  and  of  excluding  all  that  it  ought  not,  we  would 
refer  to  the  Address  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies  put  forth  by 
Congress  at  the  close  of  the  September  session  of  1774.  This  pa 
per,  fit  to  be  placed  by  the  side  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
is  one  and  one  only  of  the  able  papers  from  the  pen  of  Lee.t 
Another  paper  in  the  form  of  an  Address  from  the  twelve  united 
colonies,  by  their  delegates  in  Congress,  to  the  inhabitants  of  Great 
Britain,  drawn  by  Lee,  is  one  of  the  noblest  of  the  period.}  Whether 
we  respect  its  correct  style,  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  its 
topics,  its  fine  argumentation,  or  the  patriotic  glow  which  pervades 
the  whole,  it  merits  the  highest  praise.  Of  the  numerous  papers 
on  the  gravest  questions  of  the  day,  which  were  written  by  Lee 
during  a  congressional  term  which  reached  with  intervals  from  1774 
to  1788,  we  have  not  leisure  to  speak.  Had  Wirt,  whose  venera 
tion  of  the  genius  of  others  was  a  pure  and  unconscious  reflection 
of  his  own,  lived  to  behold  the  claims  of  Lee  to  the  authorship  of 
the  papers  in  question  and  of  others  equally  as  able  fully  estab 
lished,  he  would  have  rejoiced  to  heap  honor  on  a  man  whose  dis 
tinctive  merit  it  was  that,  above  all  his  contemporaries,  he  united 
in  his  person  in  a  supreme  degree  the  various  and  rare  qualities  of 
the  accomplished  writer  to  those  of  the  consummate  orator  and  of 
the  profound  statesman. 

The  accidental  presence  of  Lee  in  the  present  Convention  ex 
cited  the  deepest  interest.  He  had  been  suddenly  called  from 
Congress  bv  the  illness  of  his  wife ;  ||  but,  before  he  retired, 
he  had  proposed  the  resolution  declaring  independence  in  obedience 
of  the  instructions  of  the  Convention  now  sitting,  and  by  his  mas 
terly  eloquence  had  sustained  it,  amid  the  misgivings  of  the  weak 
and  the  fears  of  the  cautious,  triumphantly  in  debate.  And,  when 
he  was  about  taking  his  seat  in  Convention,  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence,  the  offspring  of  his  resolution,  was  about  to  be  pro- 

*  Life  of  R,  H.  Lee  bv  his  grandson. 

f  Life  of  R.  H.  Lee,  Vol,  I,  119. 

J  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  143. 

||  George  Mason  had  written  to  him  earnestly  beseeching  him  to  leave  Con 
gress  and  come  to  the  Convention.  See  letter  of  Mason  to  Lee  dated  May  18, 
1776  in  the  archives  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society. 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE.  135 

claimed,  and  was  eagerly  expected  by  the  members  who  maybe  said 
to  have  called  it  into  existence.*  He  was  the  only  member  of  Con 
gress,  who  was  also  a  member  of  the  body,  except  Wythe  and  Nel 
son,  that  was  present  during  the  session,  and  he  had  arrived  too  late 
for  the  discussion  on  the  declaration  of  rights  and  the  plan  of  gov 
ernment,  both  of  which  had  already  been  adopted;  but  it  is  proba 
ble  that  the  beautiful  prayer  which  the  Convention  substituted  in 
the  liturgy  for  the  prayer  in  behalf  of  the  king  and  the  royal  family 
was  from  his  classic  pen.  It  is  to  be  deplored,  that  of  all  his  elo 
quent  speeches,  delivered  on  the  most  interesting  topics  in  the 
course  of  a  parliamentary  career  embracing  more  than  the  third  of 
a  century,  not  a  solitary  specimen  has  survived  him.  When  Wil 
liam  Pitt,  in  the  midst  of  a  brilliant  coterie  of  scholars  who  were 
regretting  the  lost  works  of  philosophers,  orators,  and  poets,  was 
asked  what  work  of  the  genius  of  the  past  he  would  soonest  recall 
from  oblivion,  he  promptly  answered  ;  A  speech  of  Bolingbroke's. 
The  lover  of  Virginia,  who  truly  estimated  the  genius  of  her  most 
accomplished  son,  and  who  remembered  the  numerous  occasions 
which  were  illustrated  by  his  eloquence,  would  have  said :  A 
speech  of  Lee's. 

One  incident  in  his  life,  most  painful  in  some  of  its  aspects,  as 
deeply  wounding  the  sensibilities  of  a  patriot  and  a  man  of  honor, 
demands  a  passing  review.  It  should  be  observed  that  Lee,  though 
descended  from  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  honorable  families  of 
the  colony,  did  not  inherit  any  large  share  of  the  affections  of  the 
people.  His  ancestors  on  both  sides  of  the  house  had  indeed  filled 
high  offices  time  immemorial;  but  they  had  been  in  all  things  the 
bigotted  devotees  of  the  established  church  and  of  a  kingly  govern 
ment.  A  change  had  now  passed  over  the  spirit  of  the  people. 
In  revolutions,  it  has  been  truly  said,  men  live  fast,  and  not  only 
discard  instantly  opinions  in  which  they  had  long  acquiesced,  but 
trend  to  the  opposite  extreme.  The  Revolution  of  1776  had  fresh- 

*  The  first  printed  statement  of  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence  of  the  fourth  of  July  by  Congress  was  made  in  the  Virginia  Gazette  of 
the  19th  of  July;  when  a  synopsis  only  of  its  contents  was  published.  The 
document  in  full  was  first  published  in  the  Gazette  of  the  26th  of  July  by  an 
order  of  Council,  and  the  sheriff  of  each  county  was  enjoined  to  proclaim  it  at 
the  door  of  his  court-house  on  the  first  court  day  after  he  shall  have  received 
it.  The  order  was  signed  by  Archibald  Blair  as  clerk  of  the  Council.  It  is 
probable  that  the  passage  of  the  Declaration  was  known  by  private  letters  as 
early  as  the  10th  or  12th  of  the  month.  See  the  Virginia  Gazette  of  the  above 
dates  in  the  State  Library. 


136  RICHARD   HENRY   LEE. 

ened  in  the  general  mind  the  recollections  of  the  Revolution  of  1676, 
and  it  was  well-known  that  the  maternal  ancestor  of  Lee  was  the 
active  accomplice  of  Sir  William  Berkeley,  and  was  responsible  in 
some  degree  for  the  merciless  butcheries  perpetrated  by  that  imbe 
cile  tyrant.  The  blood  of  the  patriotic  Bland,  of  the  gallant  Hans- 
ford,  and  of  the  inflexible  Drummond,  could  still  be  seen,  through 
the  haze  of  a  century,  sticking  to  his  skirts.  The  fathers  of  the 
men  then  on  the  stage  remembered  to  have  heard  from  the  mouths 
of  men  who  had  seen  the  blue  flag  of  Monmouth  raised  in  the 
public  square  of  Taunton  and  who  had  been  present  at  Sedgemoor,* 
and  through  the  emigrants  from  Barbadoes,  of  the  judicial  murders 
of  Jeffries  at  the  close  of  Monmouth's  rebellion  ;  but,  execrable  as 
was  the  conduct  of  the  British  judge,  they  deemed  the  conduct  of 
Berkeley  more  execrable  still ;  for  Jeffries,  so  far  from  having  in 
his  pocket,  as  Berkeley  had,  a  pardon  for  the  unfortunate  criminals 
whom  he  slew,  was  acting  under  the  express  instructions  of  the 
king.  Nor  did  it  mend  matters  in  the  common  mind  that  Lee's  an 
cestor,  Ludwell,  had  married  the  widow  of  the  tyrant.  It  was  be 
lieved  that  one  of  his  ancestors  had  sought  Charles  the  Second  in 
his  retirement  at  Breda,  and  offered  him  the  throne  of  Virginia; 
and,  although  this  report  is  now  classed  among  the  fables  that  long 
obscured  that  portion  of  our  early  history,  its  fallacy  was  not  then 
detected.  Nor  were  the  grounds  of  hostility  to  the  family  purely 
historical.  Dissenters  had  increased  rapidly  in  the  colony,  and 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  Neck  were  many  persons 
of  this  description  who  could  not  fail  to  remember  with  emotions  of 
the  keenest  resentment  the  persecution  which  they  had  endured 
from  the  friends  of  the  church,  and  that  it  was  the  father  of  Rich 
ard  Henry  Lee  who,  as  a  member  of  the  Council,  had  not  only 
driven  the  pious  and  eloquent  Rodgers  out  of  the  colony,  but  had 
threatened  to  withdraw  his  license  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  one  more  eloquent  still,  whom  they  regarded  as  the 
apostle  of  a  true  faith,  the  gifted  Davies.  What  aggravated  the 
conduct  of  Thomas  Lee,  the  father  of  Richard  Henry,  was  that  he 
persisted  in  his  illiberal  course  in  opposition  to  the  royal  governor, 
whose  peculiar  province  it  was  to  decide  upon  the  meaning  of  the 
act  of  toleration,  and  who  had  leaned  to  the  side  of  religious  free- 

*  See  letter  of  James  the  Second  to  Effingham  in  C.  Campbell's  History, 
page  99. 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE.  13*7 

dom.     Nor  could  it  be  forgotten  that  Richard  Henry  Lee  himself 
had  faltered  in  the  dawn  of  the  troubles  with  the  mother  country, 
and   that,  versed  as  he  was  in  constitutional  lore,  and  capable  of 
forming  an  opinion  of  the  legality  of  acts  of  parliament,  he  had 
in  an  evil  hour,  when  the  stamp  act  was  about  to  be  passed,  at  the 
mature    age  of  thirty-two,  warmly  urged   his  claims  to  one  of  the 
offices  to   be  created  by  it.     It  was   true  that  upon  more  deliberate 
reflection  he  had  changed  his  mind,  and  had  opposed  the  execution 
of  that  measure  with  zeal  and  ability  ;  and  had  subsequently  main 
tained  the  rights  of  the  colonies  with  a  boldness  that  courted  dan 
ger  and  with  eloquence   almost  unrivalled  ;  but  the  people  whose 
voice  now  ^controlled  public  affairs,  had   never  heard  his   eloquent 
speeches,  which    were    delivered   in   the  House  of  Burgesses,  in 
Carpenter's  Hall,  and  in  the  Hall  of  Independence,  and  not  before 
them.     Nor  had  they  read  them  ;  for  the  newspapers  of  that  day 
were  few,  and  were   so  small  that  a    single   speech   of  an   hour's 
length  would  fill  half  a  dozen  weekly  issues.     At  the   moment  of 
which  we    are  speaking,  it  was,  moreover,  uncertain  whether  the 
great  struggle  of  our  fathers  for  the   rights   of  Englishmen  would 
be  called  a  Revolution  or  a  Rebellion  ;  and,  as  an  element  in  the 
excited  state  of  the   times,    it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  contest 
between  the  church    and   a    majority  of  the   people  who  were  op 
posed  to  the  church,  was   then  waging  in  popular  meetings,  in  ec 
clesiastical  bodies,  and  on  the  floor  of  the  General  Assembly.*    And 
it  was  wrell   known  that  Lee  was  one   of  the  ablest  friends  of  the 
church.     Hence,  if  any  occasion  for  an  attack  on  the  character  of 
this  eminent  man  should  arise,  there  was  much  in  the  antecedents  of 
his  race  and  in  his  religious  attachments  to  be  seized  upon  to  inflame 
the  popular  mind  against  him.  And  an  occasion  soon  arose.     Dur 
ing  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1777,  the  election  of  the 
members  of  Congress  was  held,  and  it  was  ascertained  on  counting 
the  ballots  that  Lee  was  superseded.     The  fact  that  five  other  per 
sons  had  received  more  votes  than  himself  would  at  any  time  have 
wounded  his  pride  and  his  sense  of  justice;  but,  in  the  absence  of 
any  serious  charge  against  him,  would  have  afforded  no  ground  for 
animadversion.     It  appeared,  however,  that  either  in  conversation 

*  Mr.  Jefferson  thought  that  the  Dissenters  at  the  date  of  the  Revolution 
composed  a  majority  of  the  people.  Mr.  Madison  was  inclined  to  think  that 
Mr.  J.  over  estimated  their  numbers.  Tucker's  Jefferson  and  Jefferson's  Me- 


138  RICHARD   HENRY   LEE. 

or  in  debate  malignant  and  scandalous  hints  and  inuendoes,  to  use 
his  own  language,  were  cast  upon  his  character,  and  doubtless  af 
fected  the  result.  He  instantly  withdrew  from  Congress  to  Chan- 
tilly,  was  immediately  returned  to  the  Assembly,  and  hastened  to 
take  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Delegates.  He  promptly  demanded 
from  the  General  Assembly  an  investigation  into  his  conduct  as  a 
member  of  Congress,  which  was  granted. 

Now  for  the  first  time  under  the  constitution  the  Assembly  was 
to  hold  an  inquest  into  the  character  of  a  member  of  Congress. 
The  novelty  of  the  occasion  imparted  an  interest  to  the  scene. 
The  Convention  of  July  had  performed  a  similar  office  in  the  case 
of  Col.  Bland  ;*  but,  as  that  body  was  single  and  undivided,  the 
mode  of  procedure  was  obvious.  But  the  Assembly  consisted  of 
two  houses,  both  of  which  must  decide  in  the  premises  ;  and  the 
question  arose  whether  the  trial  should  take  place  before  each  house 
separately,  or  before  the  houses  in  joint-session.  Yet  another 
question  arose.  If  the  trial  were  to  be  conducted  in  joint-session, 
should  the  members  of  the  House  proceed  to  the  chamber 
of  the  Senate,  or  the  members  of  the  Senate  proceed  to  the 
chamber  of  the  House.  In  England  the  House  of  Lords  had  never 
appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons  ;  on  the  contrary, 
the  Commons  had  always  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  Lords.  It 
was  soon  seen  that  there  was  no  analogy  between  the  cases.  When 
the  Commons  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  Lords,  it  was  either  to 
hear  a  speech  from  the  throne  or  to  prosecute  an  impeachment ; 
but  on  no  ordinary  occasion  had  the  houses  ever  been  required  to 
unite  in  the  a  joint-vote.  It  was  plain,  that,  in  the  absence  of  prece 
dent,  the  law  of  convenience  should  prevail.  And,  as  the  number 
of  the  delegates  exceeded  the  number  of  the  Senators  more  than 
four  times,  and  as  the  chamber  of  the  Senate  was  arranged  on  too 
small  a  scale  to  hold  both  bodies,  it  was  determined  that  the  trial 
should  proceed  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Delegates. 

The  day  of  the  trial  arrived.  The  novelty  of  the  procedure,  the 
fame  of  the  individual  whose  reputation  was  at  stake,  the  deep  and 
irrepressible  excitement  of  the  public  mind  which  had  recently  led 
to  the  sacrifice  of  so  illustrious  a  victim,  and  which  was  now  re 
kindled  for  a  second  contest,  and  the  universal  desire  of  observing 

*  Journal  Convention,  of  July  1775,  page  8. 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE.  139 

the  exhibition  of  that  eloquence  which  had  so  often  been  heard 
within  those  walls,  and  which,  when  employed  in  behalf  of  others, 
was  almost  irresistible,  filled  the  hall  of  the  Capitol  with  a  concourse 
of  people  which  had  not  been  seen  in  this  city  since  the  resolution 
of  independence  had  been  adopted  by  the  Convention  the  year  pre 
ceding.  Probably  at  no  period  of  hjs  life  did  Lee  experience  more 
painful  sensations  than  he  then  felt.*  Heretofore  a  brilliant  au 
dience  served  only  to  quicken  his  faculties;  but  now  his  associates 
were  his  judges,  and  that  large  audience  might  be  the  witnesses  of 
his  shame.  He  felt  that  sense  of  humiliation,  which  a  proud  spirit, 
conscious  of  right,  might  well  feel  in  appearing  before  men  who  had 
already  prejudged  his  case  under  circumstances  most  painful  to  his 
pride  as  a  man  of  honor,  and  injurious  to  his  reputation  as  a  states 
man.  With  popular  bodies  he  had  indeed  been  long  familiar  ;  but 
popular  bodies  in  exciting  times  he  well  knew  were  rarely  con 
trolled  by  the  mere  force  of  testimony;  and  by  the  setting  of  that 
day's  sun  he  might  be  pronounced  a  dishonored  man.  Nor  could 
he  refrain  from  the  reflection,  perhaps  a  generous  one,  that  the  in 
terest  of  that  spectacle  extended  beyond  the  confines  of  Virginia, 
and  that  the  eyes  of  Congress,  from  which  body  he  had  been  so  un 
kindly  recalled,  were  eagerly  fixed  upon  it.  Before  him  in  the 
chair  of  the  House  sat  George  Wythe,  who,  though  six  years  older 
than  himself,  and  seemingly  advanced  in  life,  had  not  yet  taken  his 
seat  on  the  bench  of  that  Court  in  which  he  was  to  preside  for  the 
third  of  a  century,  who  had  observed  his  course  from  his  first  ap 
pearance  on  the  public  stage,  who  had  heard  almost  all  his  great 
speeches  at  home  and  abroad,  and  with  whom  he  had  passed  so 
many  years  of  mingled  hopes  and  fears.  The  Senate  was  soon  an 
nounced,  and  entered  the  hall,  the  venerable  Archibald  Gary  at  its 
head.  The  Speakers  of  the  Houses  sat  side  by  side.  The  mem 
bers  of  the  Senate  sat  together.  The  order  of  the  day  was  then 
called.  Witnesses  were  examined  at  length  ;  and  when  the  testi 
mony  was  taken,  Lee  proceeded  to  address  the  assembly.  Not  a 
sentence  of  that  speech  has  come  down  to  us,  but  its  effect  is  well 

*  The  details  of  the  votes  for  the  five  members  of  Congress  who  were  elected 
when  Lee  was  superseded  were  well  calculated  to  mortify  him.  Each  member 
was  elected  separately,  and  Lee's  name  was  brought  forward  five  times  but 
never  received  more  than  eleven  votes  in  a  house  of  near  one  hundred  and  thirty 
members,  and  on  one  of  the  ballots  it  received  but  two.  To  add  to  his  mortifi 
cation,  his  own  brother  Francis  Lightfoot  Lee  was  brought  forward  and  elected. 
See  Journal  of  the  H.  of  D.  for  1777,  pages  33,  34,  and  35. 


140  RICHARD   HENRY   LEE. 

remembered.  We  are  told  that  he  spoke  with  an  eloquence  so 
touching  that  every  heart  was  melted  by  its  power,  and  that  every 
eye  was  in  tears.  When  he  concluded,  the  Senate  withdrew,  and 
the  House  immediately  voted  an  acquittal;  and  adopted  a  resolution 
instructing  the  Speaker  to  return  its  thanks  to  Lee  "for  the  faithful 
services  he  has  rendered  his  country  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as 
one  of  the  delegates  from  this  state  in  the  General  Congress."  On 
the  passage  of  the  resolution  the  Speaker  rose  and  performed  his 
office — the  tears  rolling  down  his  honest  face  as  he  spoke.  When 
he  closed  his  remarks,  Mr.  Lee,  who  rose  to  receive  the  address  of 
the  Speaker,  made  his  acknowledgements  to  the  House  in  a  brief 
and  exquisitely  graceful  but  manly  speech.*  The  Senate  also  passed 
an  honorable  acquittal.  That  this  affair  made  a  most  painful  im 
pression  on  the  mind  of  Lee  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  stated  by 
him  in  a  letter  to  John  Adams  written  two  years  afterwards,  that 
he  looked  to  Massachusetts  as  the  place  "  where  he  yet  hoped 
to  finish  the  remainder  of  his  days."! 

Now,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  there  is  no  official  record,  no 
general  history,  not  even  the  gazettes  of  the  day,  not  even  the  frag 
ment  of  a  published  letter,  which  throws  any  light  on  the  nature  of 
the  charges  which  blasted  for  a  time  the  popularity  of  one  of  the 
purest  patriots  of  the  Revolution.  Girardin  states  that  the  charges 
have  not  come  down  to  us.  The  grandson  of  Lee,  in  his  pious 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  his  ancestor,  mentions,  but  without  giving 
any  authority  for  the  fact,  what  he  supposes  to  have  been  the 
grounds  of  the  accusation.  It  was  therefore  with  sincere  pleasure 
that  the  person  addressing  the  chair,  in  the  course  of  an  examina 
tion  of  the  papers  of  Patrick  Henry  in  the  possession  of  his  son  at 
Red  Hill,  found  a  letter  written  by  Lee  to  Henry  in  which  he  states 
the  charges  alleged  against  him,  and  refutes  them  at  length  and 
with  perfect  success.  These  charges  were  mainly  that  in  exacting 
his  rents  from  his  tenants,  which,  much  to  their  advantage  when 
the  contract  was  made,  were  payable  in  kind — a  contract  made  be 
fore  the  Revolution  and  of  course  before  the  issue  of  paper  money 

*  The  speeches  of  Wythe  and  Lee  may  be  found  in  the  Journals  of  the  House 
of  Delegates  of  that  year,  (113)  in  Girardin,  and  in  the  Life  of  Lee  by  hii 
grandson.  The  Journal  states  that  Mr.  Lee  rose  in  his  place  when  Mr.  Wythe 
addressed  him.  The  custom  of  the  British  Parliament  is  that  when  a  member 
is  thanked  in  his  place,  that  place  becomes  his  fixed  seat  as  long  as  he  remains 
a  member  of  the  House.  I  know  not  whether  this  usage  prevailed  in  the  colony. 

t  Life  of  R.  H.  Lee  Vol.  1.  226. 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE.  141 

by  the  state — he  sought  to  depreciate  the  public  currency ;  and  that 
he  had  made  in  his  public  capacity  in  Congress  a  discrimination  in 
favor  of  the  Northern  ports  against  the  Southern.  These  were  evi 
dently  pretexts  for  an  opposition  based  upon  other  grounds.  Nor 
was  this  opposition  exhibited  only  in  excluding  Lee  from  the  dele 
gation  to  Congress.  Under  a  plausible  pretext  of  rotation  in 
office,  an  act  had  been  passed  which  declared  "  that  no  person  who 
shall  have  served,  or  shall  hereafter  serve,  as  a  member  of  Congress 
for  three  years  successively,  including  the  time  he  hath  heretofore 
served,  shall  be  capable  of  serving  therein  again  till  he  shall  be  out 
of  the  same  one  whole  year;"* — a  measure  which  lost  to  the  con 
federation  the  services  of  some  of  our  ablest  men  at  a  most  difficult 
crisis,  and  which  Lee  states  in  the  letter  alluded  to  was  aimed  ex 
pressly  at  him.  The  truth  is  that  the  history  of  Virginia  from  the 
meeting  of  the  first  House  of  Delegates  in  the  fall  of  1776  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  is  yet  almost  wholly  unwritten.  Glimpses,  faint 
and  casual,  of  the  state  of  parties  may  be  seen  in  the  text  of  Girar- 
din  and  in  his  notes.  A  record  from  one  cabinet  and  a  rumor 
founded  on  the  supposed  contents  of  another,  serve  only  to  sharpen 
the  general  curiosity,  not  to  satisfy  it.  Should  the  state  of  parties 
during  the  time  specified  ever  be  recorded  with  any  fullness  and  by 
an  impartial  hand,  it  will  make  up  one  of  the  most  unexpected  and 
most  thrilling  chapters  in  our  annals.  And  let  me  add,  that  unless 
the  effort  be  made  ere  long  to  write  that  portion  of  our  secret  his 
tory,  it  will  be  lost  to  posterity.! 

*  Hening's  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  IX.  299.  The  same  act  provides  that  the 
pay  of  a  member  of  Congress  shall  be  eight  dollars  per  diem,  fifteen  pence  per 
mile  going  and  returning,  together  with  his  ferriages;  and  that  no  member  of  Con 
gress  shall  be  eligible  to  either  house  of  assembly.  The  Virginia  restriction  of 
the  term  of  service  of  a  member  of  Congress  was  made  still  more  stringent  in 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which  provided  that  no  delegate  should  be  eligi 
ble  for  more  than  three  years  in  a  period  of  six. 

f  Through  all  his  difficulties  Lee  retained  the  unabated  confidence  and  affec 
tion  of  Patrick  Henry.  As  illustrations  of  this  fact,  and  in  defence  of  Lee,  I 
annex  several  extracts  from  the  letters  of  Henry  addressed  to  Lee  : 

"  Adieu  my  dear  friend.  May  your  powerful  assistance  be  never  wanted 
when  the  best  interests  of  America  are  in  danger.  May  the  subterfuges  of 
Toryism  be  continually  exposed  and  counteracted  by  that  zeal  and  ability  you 
have  so  long  displayed  to  the  peculiar  honor  of  your  native  country,  and  the 
advantage  of  all  the  United  States.  I  am  your  ever  affectionate  P.  Henry,  jun." 
The  date  of  the  above  extract  is  the  time  when  Lee  was  most  unpopular  ;  viz : 
"Williamsburg,  March  20,  1777. 

"  In  this  suspense  (the  Legislature  had  been  sitting  some  time  and  had  done 
nothing)  when  matters  of  vast  concern  are  on  the  tapis,  your  friends  think  the 
general  interests  of  America  and  the  welfare  of  this  State  call  you  here.  I 


RICHARD   HENRY   LEE. 

An  opportunity  soon  occurred  of  reinstating  Mr.  Lee  in  his  for 
mer  position.  Col.  Mason,  who  was  one  of  the  five  members 
elected  when  Lee  was  deposed,  having  declined  to  accept  the  ap 
pointment,  he  was  elected  in  his  stead,  again  took  his  seat  in  Con 
gress  of  which  body  he  became  the  president,  and  was  re-elected  as 
often  as  he  became  eligible  under  the  Confederation,  until  that 
body  was  superseded  by  the  federal  constitution.  When  not  a 
member  of  Congress,  he  was  usually  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Delegates;  and  it  is  honorable  to  his  character  to  affirm  that  the 
views  which  he  took  of  many  of  the  great  questions  in  our  revolu 
tionary  councils,  such  as  the  expediency  of  the  repeated  issues  of 
paper  money,  the  payment  of  the  British  debts,  the  payment  of 
taxes  in  kind,  and  similar  topics,  are  those  which  the  philosophic 
historian  with  the  panorama  of  the  past  unfolded  before  him  would 
pronounce  to  have  been  the  wisest  and  best.  As  he  was  a  member 
of  Congress  while  the  federal  Convention  was  sitting  in  Philadel- 

should  think  so  too,  did  I  not  know  that  your  whole  time  and  attention  have 
been  bestowed  on  the  American  contest  since  its  first  beginnings.  Fine  parts 
are  seldom  joined  to  industry,  and  very  seldom  accompany  such  a  degree  of 
strength  and  toughness  as  your  long  contest  with  Tories  required.  1  know 
how  necessary  a  little  repose  is  to  you.  It  is  cruel  to  deny  it.  But  I  cannot 
help  fearing  that  our  country  may  date  the  era  of  calamity  at  the  time  when 
you  are  absent  from  the  public  counsels."  Williamsburg,  Dec.  18,  1777. 

From  the  letter  from  which  the  above  extract  is  taken,  I  select  a  paragraph 
which  will  show  not  only  that  some  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  opposed 
a  declaration  of  independence,  but  that  they  were  well  known  at  the  time  : 

"  The  Confederation  is  passed  (the  Assembly)  nem.  con. ;  though  opposed 
by  some  who  opposed  independency.  This  I  hear,  and  I  hear  other  things,  though 
I  shall  forbear  to  enlarge  because  I  still  entertain  some  hope  you  will  be  here 
to  see  and  hear  for  yourself,  and  by  seeing  and  hearing,  once  more  emi 
nently  serve  the  cause  of  Whiggism  and  your  country.  I  beg  you  to  be  as 
sured  that  with  great  affection  I  am,  my  dear  friend,  yours  ever." 

Some  months  later  (April  4,  1778,)  Henry  addressed  to  Lee  the  letter  of 
which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  You  are  again  traduced  by  a  certain  set  who  have  drawn  in  others,  who 
say  that  you  are  engaged  in  a  scheme  to  discard  Gen.  Washington.  I  know 
you  too  well  to  suppose  you  would  attempt  anything  not  evidently  calculated 
to  serve  the  cause  of  Whiggism.  To  dismiss  the  General  would  not  be  so ; 
ergo,  &c.,  &c.  But  it  is  your  fate  to  suffer  the  constant  attacks  of  disguised 
Tories  who  take  this  measure  to  lessen  you.  Farewell,  my  dear  friend.  In 
praying  for  your  welfare,  I  pray  for  that  of  my  country  to  which  your  life  and 
service  are  of  the  last  moment.  I  am  in  great  haste  your  affectionate  P.  Henry." 

And  eleven  years  later,  when  Lee  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  a  most  intimate  correspondence  was  carried  on  through  the  post.  From 
the  conclusion  of  one  of  the  letters  of  Henry,  dated  Prince  Edward,  Aug.  28, 
1789,  taken  at  a  venture,  it  will  be  seen  the  same  devoted  friendship  existed 
between  them : 

"  May  you  long  continue  the  friend  and  support  of  your  country's  best  in 
terests,  and  enjoy  every  good  thing,  is  the  sincere  wish  of.  dear  sir,  your  affec 
tionate  friend  and  servant." 


RICHARD   HEXRY   LEE.  143 

phia,  he  declined  an  appointment  to  that  body  as  the  successor  of 
Patrick  Henry;*  nor  was  he  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  Virginia 
which  ratified  the  federal  constitution ;  but  he  strenuously  opposed 
its  adoption  without  previous  amendments,  and  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  Governor  of  this  state  he  pointed  out  what  he  deemed  its  de 
fects,  insisting  that  the  state  should  xrefuse  to  adopt  the  constitution 
until  previous  amendments  were  ratified  in  the  mode  presented  by 
that  instrument.  This  letter  made  a  deep  impression  not  only  on 
the  people  of  Virginia  but  on  those  of  Kentucky  and  North  Caro 
lina.  On  the  organization  of  the  federal  government  he  was  elected 
to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  made  great  and  not  wholly 
unsuccessful  efforts  to  effect  those  changes  in  the  constitution 
which  he  had  urged  in  his  published  letter,  and  which  were  sug 
gested  by  the  Virginia  Convention.  He  remained  in  the  Senate 
three  years,  when  he  resigned  his  seat,  and  died  two  years  after,  on 
the  nineteenth  day  of  June,  1794,  at  Chantilly,  his  residence  in 
the  county  of  Westmoreland,  in  the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

Of  the  men  of  the  Revolution  none  has  come  down  to  us  with 
more  distinctness  than  Richard  Henry  Lee.  His  tall,  spare  form, 
his  head,  in  the  language  of  a  kindred  spirit,  "leaning  persuasively 
and  gracefully  forward,"  his  Roman  profile  which  instantly  marked 
him  out  from  the  lobby  or  the  gallery,  his  action  polished  with  such 
rare  skill  that  the  loss  of  the  fingers  of  his  left  hand  failed  so  attract 
the  attention  of  the  observer,  his  flowing  eloquence  set  off  by  the 
modulated  tones  of  a  sweet  voice,  his  classic  wit,  his  devotion  to  his 
country,  and  his  calm  and  ardent  piety  which  gilded  his  pathway 
almost  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave ;  these  impressions,  as  they  are 
contemplated  by  us  with  delight,  at  the  distance  of  two  generations, 
so  they  will  be  remembered  with  grateful  admiration  for  ages  yet  to 
come.f 

*  So  stated  by  Mr.  Madison  in  a  letter  to  Jefferson  dated  April  23,  1787. 
Madison  Papers,  643. 

t  Curtis  in  his  History  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  (I,  49,)  after 
stating  that  Mr.  Lee  was  the  author  of  the  plan  adopted  by  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  in  1773  for  the  formation  of  committees  of  correspondence,  out  of  which 
grew  the  plan  of  the  Continental  Congress,  observes :  "  In  the  second  Congress 
he  was  selected  to  move  the  resolution  of  independence."  If  the  meaning  of  this 
be  that  Lee  was  selected  directly  or  indirectly  by  the  body  to  offer  that  resolu 
tion,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  Mr.  Curtis  is  mistaken.  The  Virginia  dele 
gation  was  peremptorily  instructed  to  propose  independence  by  the  present 
Convention,  and  the  duty  of  presenting  the  resolution  naturally  devolved  upon 
Lee  as  the  senior  member,  and  one  who  was  the  best  speaker  among  them.  Mr. 


144  PATRICK   HENRY. 

Ill  close  connection  with  the  name  of  Richard  Henry  Lee  has 
been  associated  for  nearly  a  century  past,  and  will  be  in  future  time, 
the  name  of  a  statesman,  who,  though  sprung  from  a  stock  unknown 
and  unhonored  in  the  colony,  and  destitute  of  that  wealth  which 
even  in  colonial  society  not  unfrequently  supplied  the  place  of 
birth,  was  his  successful  rival  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  in  the 
State  Conventions,  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  subsequently  in 

Curtis  overlooks  the   important  fact  that  the  resolution  is  almost  in  the  very 
words  of  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Virginia  Convention. 

In  John  Adam's  Autobiography,  speaking  of  the  reasons  which  induced  Con 
gress  to  select  so  young  a  man  as  Mr.  Jefferson  to  draw  the  declaration,  he 
says:  "Another  reason  was  that  Mr.  Richard  Henry  Lee  was  not  beloved  by 
most  of  his  colleagues  from  Virginia,  and  Mr.  Jeli'erson  was  set  up  to  rival  and 
supplant  him."  Whether  Lee  was  or  was  not  popular  with  his  colleagues,  the 
recollection  of  the  venerable  p'atriarch  of  Quincy  must  stand  for  what  it  is  worth  ; 
but  that  any  unworthy  feeling  of  rivalry  between  Jeli'erson  and  Lee  operated  in 
the  choice  of  the  former  as  the  head  of  the  Declaration  Committee  is  disproved 
by  the  facts  of  the  case.  When  the  ballot  for  the  committee  took  place,  Mr.  Lee 
had  departed  for  Virginia  on  an  indefinite  absence;  and  it  is  well  known  that  the 
declaration  committee  was  appointed  for  the  sake  of  despatch  before  the  resolution 
of  independence  was  adopted  by  Congress.  The  probability  is  that  Jefferson 
owed  his  appointment  partly  to  the  fact  that  the  resolution  of  independence  was 
a  Virginia  measure  ;  and  partly  to  his  reputation  as  a  ready  and  graceful  writer. 
The  obvious  truth  is  that  Mr.  Adams'  "Frankfort"  Platform  (Works  II,  512) 
is  wholly  illusory. 

Curtis  in  his  History  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  (Vol.  I,  116) 
has  the  following  sentence  :  "  The  suppression  of  the  royal  authority  through 
out  the  colonies,  by  virtue  of  the  resolve  of  the  Continental  Congress  passed  on  the 
10th  of  May,  1776,  rendered  necessary  the  formation  of  local  governments,  ca 
pable  at  once  of  answering  the  ends  of  political  society,  and  of  continuing 
without  interruption  the  protection  of  Jaw  over  property,  life,  and  public  order." 
How  "  the  royal  authority"  may  be  said  to  have  been  "suppressed"  by  the  pas 
sage  of  the  resolution  of  the  10th  of  May  does  not  seem  clear  to  rny  mind.  The 
resolution  of  the  10th  of  May  was  but  a  re-enactment  of  the  resolution  of  Congress 
passed  at  the  close  of  the  previous  year,  which  advised  the  colonies  to  form  such 
a  plan  of  government  "as  would  most  effectually  secure  good  order  in  the 
province  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  Colonies"  The  resolution  of  the  10th  of  May  had  no  reference  to  the  "sup 
pression"  of  "royal  authority"  at  all.  Its  plain  and  palpable  object  was  to 
bring  about  such  a  state  of  things  in  the  several  colonies  as  to  enable  them  to 
act  with  efficiency  during  the  pending  troubles.  The  Congress  itself  was  far 
from  being  prepared  to  "  suppress  the  royal  authority"  as  early  as  the  10th  of 
May.  The  debate  on  the  resolution  of  independence  shows  that  there  was 
much  reluctance  among  the  members  to  declare  independence.  The  fact  is 
that  Congress  instead  of  giving  the  impulse  to  independence  received  it  from 
the  colonies.  Before  the  resolution  of  the  10th  of  May  could  have  reached 
Williamsburg,  Virginia  had  met  in  her  Convention,  discussed  the  subject  of 
independence,  and  instructed  her  delegates  to  piopose  it  in  Congress;  and  had 
appointed  a  committee  to  draft  a  declaration  of  rights  and  a  plan  of  government 
for  a  free  state.  North  Carolina  had  also  "  empowered"  her  delegates  to  vote  for 
independence  a  month  before  the  passage  of  the  resolution  of  the  l()th  of  May. 
This  view  of  Curtis  is  mainly  important  as  foreshadowing  the  theory  of  consol 
idation  which  may  be  broached  in  the  second  volume  of  his  work  which  has  not 
yet  appeared. 


PATRICK  HENRY.  145 

the  House  of  Delegates,  who  was  nearly  his  equal  in  age,*  who 
lived  with  him  in  the  bonds  of  affectionate  friendship,  who  acted  in 
unison  with  him  on  all  the  great  public  questions  of  the  third  of  a 
century,  and  who  closed  a  life  equally  devoted  to  his  country,  and 
equally  resplendent  with  genius  and  patriotism  about  the  same  pe 
riod.  It  has  been  usual  to  represent  PATRICK  HENRY  as  an  idle,  va 
grant  boy,  hating  his  book,  sauntering  in  the  woods,  lolling  on  the 
bank  of  a  stream  with  a  fishing  rod  in  his  hand,  and  fond  of  the 
sports  of  the  field.  That  he  loved  retirement  and  delighted  in  the 
active  exercises  of  youth  is  doubtless  true;  but  he  errs  greatly  who 
supposes  that  the  youth  of  such  a  man  was  wholly  spent  in  idleness 
and  folly.  His  father  \vas  a  Scotchman  and  a  teacher,  and  was  so 
well  versed  in  the  Latin  classics,  that  no  less  a  judge  than  Samuel 
Davies  pronounced  him,  Scotchman  as  he  wras,  more  intimately  con 
versant  with  his  Horace  than  with  his  Bible.  As  it  is  well-known 
that  the  Scotch  teach  their  children  Latin  at  an  early  age,  it  is  pro 
bable  that  Henry  was  in  his  early  youth  skilled  in  the  rudiments  of 
that  tongue. t  He  also  studied  mathematics  of  which  he  was  fond. 
His  quick  apprehension  placed  him  ahead  of  his  fellows,  and  he 
could  easily  afford  to  spend  in  sport  the  time  which  others  were 
compelled  to  devote  in  reaching  a  point  to  which  he  had  already  at 
tained.  At  no  time  of  his  life,  indeed,  was  he  a  reader  of  many 
books,  but  at  no  time  of  his  life  was  he  without  some  great  work  in 
history  or  morals  which  he  read  with  unremitting  care.  The  books 
which  he  read  were  those  which  were  well  designed  to  brace  his 
mind,  and  to  furnish  it  with  knowledge  adapted  to  the  sphere  in 
which  he  was  destined  to  move.  British  history,  his  favorite  Livy 
which  he  read  again  and  again,  Soame  Jenyns,  and  Bishop  Butler, 
whose  Analogy  was  his  standard  book  through  life,  constituted  the 
food  on  which  he  fed.  He  remembered  the  remark  of  Hobbes, 
that,  if  he  had  read  as  many  books,  he  would  have  been  as  stupid 
as  other  people.  His  speech  in  the  parsons'  cause  showed  that  at 
that  early  period  of  his  life  he  had  been  accustomed  to  arrange  his 
thoughts  with  care  and  had  studied  the  art  of  speaking  with  the 
strictest  attention.  What  the  lonely  cave  and  the  sounding  surf 
were  to  Demosthenes  were  the  rustling  woods  and  the  prattling 

*  Lee  was  four  years  older  than  Henry  and  died  in  1794  ;  Henry  died  in  1799. 

t  John  Adams,  in   his  Diary  (Works  vol.  II,  396,)   of  the   Congress  of  1774, 
says  that  Henry  told  them  that  at  fifteen  he  had  read  Virgil  and  Livy,  but  had 
not  read  a  Latin  book  since. 
10 


146  PATRICK   HENRY. 

streams  to  his  modern  rival.     He  belonged  to  a  class  of  speakers 
now  passing  away,  of  whom   Samuel  Davies  was   an    early   and 
Archibald  Alexander  a  later  type,  who  had  learned  to  arrange  their 
thoughts  in  the   strictest  logical   sequence   without  putting  pen  to 
paper,  and  who  in  the   glow  of  public  discussion  infinitely  tran 
scended  not  only  in  fervor  of  fancy  but  in  force  of  logic  their  private 
meditations.     If  any  evidence   were  required   to  show   his  critical 
study  of  the  English  tongue,  it  will  be  found  in  his  letters  which 
are  far  more  elegant  than  those  of  Pendleton  and  Wythc,  and  fully 
equal  those  of  Lee.     His  farewell  letter  to  the  officers  of  the  army, 
and  his  letter  to  the  Convention  accepting  the  office  of  Governor, 
written  on  the   spur  of  the  moment,  are  faultless  models  of  what 
such  letters  ought  to  be.     That  the  stern  necessities  of  life,  the  labor 
of  providing  bread  for  a  family  the  cares  of  which   he  assumed  in 
his  eighteenth  year,  prevented  him  from  attaining  that  excellence  of 
which  he  was  capable,  is  certain  ;  but  in  the  greatest  debates  with 
his  most  able  opponents  he  was  never  at  a  loss  for  arguments  drawn 
from  ancient  and  modern   history  to   sustain  his   cause.      Hences 
too,  that  power  which  made  him  most  formidable  in  reply;  for  he 
was  enabled  to  see  the  historical  facts  pressed  by  his  adversaries  not 
merely  in  the  light  in  which  they  were  presented  in   debate,  but 
in  their  connections   with  the  facts  which  preceded  and  the   facts 
which  followed  them.     He  was  not  a  great  lawyer  in  the  technical 
sense  of  the  word,  nor  would  be  ever  have  become  one.     His  first 
step  was  a  false  one,  and  could  not  be  retraced.     He  had  not  served 
an  apprenticeship  to  the  law;  with  her  forms  he  was  unfamiliar;  he 
had  taken  up  the  profession  late  as  the  last  resource  for  the  suste 
nance  of  his  family ;  and  with  this  view  he  pursued  it,  distasteful  as 
it  was;  resolved,  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  live  without  it,  to  cast  it 
aside.    When,  in  the  decline  of  life  and  in  the  midst  of  affluence,  he 
engaged  in  the  British  debt  cause,  the  industry  and  care  with  which 
he  made  his  preparations  prove  what  would  have  been  his  course 
had  he  embraced  the  law  in  early  life,  and  had  devoted  to  it  his  un 
divided  attention.     As  a  criminal  lawyer  he  was  confessedly  at  the 
head  of  his  profession.     He  was  not  only  not   approached,  but  he 
was  unapproachable.     Even  in  civil  cases,  when  the  question  was 
loosed  from  the  fetters  of  special  pleading,  and  involved  a  principle 
of  common  right  or  a  principle  founded  on  the  law  of  nature  and  na 
tions,  of  all  the  learned  men  at  the  bar  of  the  General  Court,  none 


PATRICK    HENRY.  147 

could  stand  before  him.     That  Robert  Carter  Nicholas  on  retiring 
from  the  bar  committed  his  business  to  Henry,  shows  that  so  stern 
a  judge  of  merit  thought  him  not  unequal  to  the  duty  assigned  him. 
But,    however   luxuriant   and   enduring    are    the    laurels    which 
he    won    in   the  disputations  of  the  forum,  he  might  have  trodden 
them    in    the    dust,    and   yet   preserved    a   reputation    which    his 
proudest  compeers  might  have  sought  in  vain  to  rival.     He  was  the 
SEER  of  the  Revolution.    He  was  the  patriot-prophet  of  an  era  in  the 
history  of  our  race,  if  second  to  one  great  religious  epoch,  second  to 
no  political  one,  and  in  comparison  with  which  the  Revolution  which 
placed  William  of  Orange  on  the  throne  of  Great  Britain  sinks  into  in 
significance.     The  British  Revolution  was  but  the  exchange  of  one 
king  who  refused  to  obey  the  laws  of  the  realm  for  another  king  who 
consented   to  obey  them.     It  was  the  exchange  of  one  hereditary 
dynasty  for  another  hereditary  dynasty  to  be  removed,   if  ever,  by 
another   Revolution.     But  the   American   Revolution  was  to  teach 
a   far  more  imposing  lesson  than  any  that  could  be  drawn  from 
a  mere  change  of  rulers.     It  taught,  and  will  teach  forever,  that 
the  people  are  the  only  legitimate  source  of  power,  that  all  govern 
ment  is  a  trust  to  be  executed  for  the   benefit  of  those  who   create 
it,  that  personal  worth,  and    not  the   worth  or   want    of  worth  of 
ancestors,  is  the  true  test  of  merit   and  the    rule   of  honor,  that  all 
the    children  of  the  same  parents    are    entitled  to    equal  favor   in 
the  eye   of  the  law,  that  the  soil  beneath  our  feet  belongs  to  the 
living,  not  to  the  dead,  and  that  man  may  worship  God  without  the 
fear  of  man  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience.     Nor  are 
its  facts  less  eloquent  than  its  doctrines.     A  few  sparse  colonies  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  the  North  American  continent,  mainly  peopled 
by  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  dependent  on  the  guardian  care  of 
a   country  that  despised  them,  resolved  to  resist  the  tyranny  that 
oppressed  them,  achieved  their   independence  with  the  sword  in  a 
contest  with   one  of  the  most  powerful   nations   known  in  ancient 
or  in  modern  times,  established  free  systems  of  government,  opened 
their  ports  to  the  active,   the  enterprising,    and  the  oppressed  of 
every  clime,  increased  their  population  in   a  ratio  unknown  in  the 
calculations  of  Europe,  enlarged  their  territory  to  such    an  extent 
that  it  already  reaches  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  from   the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and,  to  judge  the  future  by 
the  stern  statistics  of  the  past,  if  we  measure  a  period  of  time  ex- 


148  PATRICK  HEffRY, 

tending  from  the  passage  of  the  resolutions  against  the  stamp  act  to 
the  present,  and  from  the  present  to  a  point  of  time  nearly 
equally  distant  in  the  future — a  period  the  expiration  of  which 
the  children  of  persons  now  living  may  behold — will  possess  a 
civilized  population  greater  than  was  ever  before  gathered  under 
a  single  government  under  the  sun,  and  approaching  the  enormous 
number  of  three  hundred  millions  of  human  beings  !  Such  is  the 
American  Revolution,  and  of  such  an  epoch  PATRICK  HENRY  was 
the  master  spirit. 

It  is  proper,  however,  to  observe  that  even  reflecting  men  are 
sometimes  prone  to  draw  unjust  inferences  from  the  respective 
parts  borne  by  Henry  and  by  his  compeers  in  the  preliminary 
stages  of  the  revolutionary  troubles.  There  is  one  point  of  view 
from  which  the  course  of  both  ought  to  be  regarded,  and  it  is  the 
only  point  of  view  from  which  the  consistency  of  both  is  fully  ap 
parent.  Alone  among  all  the  statesmen  of  his  time,  Henry  was, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  contest,  at  heart  in  favor  of  indepen 
dence.  All  his  measures  took  a  form  in  obedience  to  his  main  de 
sign,  and,  considered  in  this  light,  appear  in  perfect  harmony.  On 
the  other  hand,  all  his  contemporaries  without  exception  not  only 
did  not  desire  independence  but  eagerly  sought  an  honorable  recon 
ciliation  with  the  mother  country.  Mason,  Peyton  Randolph,  Pen- 
dleton,  Wythe,  Bland,  Nicholas,  Jefferson,  and  others,  ^vere  as  late 
as  1775  in  favor  of  a  connection  with  Great  Britain.*  The  Con 
vention  of  July  1775  closed  its  sessions  with  an  elaborate  address 
to  the  people  in  which  the;;  "solemnly  declare,  before  God  and 
the  world,  that  we  do  bear  faith  and  true  allegiance  to  his  majesty 
George  the  Third,  our  true  and  lawful  king."  Hence  the  zeal  with 
which  Henry  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  pressed  his  resolutions 
against  the  stamp  act,  and  in  the  March  Convention  of  1775  his 
resolutions  for  embodying  the  militia ;  and  hence  the  zeal  with 
which  his  compatriots  opposed  them.  Both  sets  of  resolutions, 
regarded  as  a  means  of  forcing  independence,  were  wise  and  pro 
per  ;  but,  regarded  as  measures  of  policy  proceeding  from  public 
bodies  which  had  already  adopted  a  series  of  measures  deemed 
by  them  likely  to  attain  the  end  in  view,  and  which  had  not  yet 

*  Journal  Va.  Convention  July  1773,  page  28;  Mason  to  Mercer,  Hist.  Reg 
ister  Vol.  II,  28;  Jefferson  to  John  Randolph,  Works  Vol.  I  ;  Pendleton's  Au 
tobiographical  Sketch,  &,c.,  &tc. 


PATRICK  HENRY.  149 

spent  their  force,  were  manifestly  ill-timed  and  inconsistent.  If 
the  opinions  of  Henry  had  been  embraced  generally  as  early  as 
1765,  the  result  would  undoubtedly  have  been  beneficial.  The 
fatal  policy  of  commercial  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain  would 
have  been  rejected,  and  the  country  in  the  beginning  of  hostilities, 
instead  of  being  utterly  destitute  of  all  the  munitions  of  war, 
would  have  been  well  supplied  with  the  means  of  prosecuting 
the  contest  with  becoming  energy.  Thus,  judging  from  the  re 
sult,  while  we  admire  the  far-sightedness  of  Henry  which  led 
him  to  take  at  once  the  stand  which  his  compatriots  after  ten 
years  of  humiliation  were  compelled  to  assume,  we  must  be  care 
ful  not  to  impugn  the  patriotism  of  those,  who,  starting  from  a 
different  point,  and  having  a  different  object  in  view,  prosecuted 
their  course  with  eminent  wisdom  and  ability,  until  by  the  declara 
tion  of  independence  a  common  design  and  a  common  object 
brought  all  parties  together. 

The  story  of  the  life  of  Henry  is  so  well  known  by  the  generous 
tribute  which  the  genius  of  Wirt  has  paid  to  his  memory,  that  we 
will  hasten  through  our  part.  Our  present  purpose  is  simply  to  in 
troduce  him  as  he  was  up  to  this  period,  when,  in  his  fortieth  year, 
he  took  his  seat  in  the  Convention.  His  success  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses  in  1765  in  passing  his  resolutions  against  the  stamp  act 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  decisive  triumphs  in  parliamen 
tary  history.  The  resolutions  themselves,  written  hastily  as  they 
were,  are  sketched  with  masterly  ability,  and  show  the  point  and 
grace  with  which  he  wielded  his  pen.  The  questions  involve^ 
in  them  were  beyond  and  above  the  common  law,  and  were  dis 
cussed  by  him  with  a  force  of  argument  and  with  a  warmth  of 
eloquence  which  solid  planters  and  grave  statesmen  could  not 
resist.  The  oldest  and  most  learned  lawyers  of  the  colony  quailed 
before  a  raw  youth  of  nine  and  twenty,  who  had  never  be 
fore  opened  his  lips  in  a  deliberative  assembly.  Indeed  all  the 
external  aids  which  impart  dignity  and  authority  to  a  public 
speaker  on  a  great  occasion  were  wanting  to  him.  He  was 
personally  unknown  to  most  of  his  audience.  He  was  dressed 
in  such  a  garb  as  no  delegate  from  the  Salt  Lake,  no  delegate 
from  the  distant  realm  through  which  the  Oregon  rolls  his  tu 
multuous  floods  to  the  sea,  would  now  wear  in  a  public  meeting; 
and  he  spoke  to  an  assembly  composed  of  men,  some  of  whom 


150  PATRICK    HENRY. 

had  been  educated  to  the  law  in  the  Temple,  others  of  whom  were 
the  cool  and  skillful  debaters  of  an  age  when  caste  and  birth  and 
dress  were  more  regarded  than  they  are  now  or  will  be  again. 
That  his  resolutions  should  have  passed  not  only  without  the  con 
sent  of  such  men,  but  in  spite  of  their  long,  keen,  and  fierce  op 
position  waged  in  a  body  in  which  they  had  previously  for  years 
exerted  an  unlimited  sway,  as  it  was  the  marvel  of  the  past  age, 
so  it  is  the  marvel  now,  and  so  it  will  be  the  marvel  in  time  to 
come.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  he  offered  his  reso 
lutions,  he  might  have  been  seen  passing  along  that  street  on  his 
way  to  his  home  in  Louisa,  clad  in  a  pair  of  leather  breeches,  his 
saddle-bags  on  his  arm,  leading  a  lean  horse,  and  chatting  with  Paul 
Carrington  who  walked  by  his  side.* 

His  speech  ten  years  later  in  the  Convention  of  March  1775  on 
his  resolutions  for  organizing  the  militia  was  the  second  great 
triumph  which  he  achieved  in  the  public  councils.  Some  portions 
of  his  speech  in  their  defence,  preserved  in  the  memory  of  those 
who  heard  it,  are  still  extant,  and  exhibit  a  force  of  argument  and 
a  beauty  of  expression  so  finely  blended,  that,  after  a  lapse  of 
eighty  years,  they  still  form  the  delight  of  the  young  and  the  ad 
miration  of  the  old.f 

Nor  was  the  influence  of  HENRY,  as  has  been  too  generally  be 
lieved,  confined  to  public  debate.  He  was  as  effective  in  the  com 
mittee-room  as  on  the  floor  of  the  house.  In  both  spheres  his 
honesty  and  intrepidity  were  the  sources  of  his  success.  Every 
body  saw  that  he  was  sincere,  and  that  he  did  not  belong  to  a  class 
not  uncommon  in  revolutions,  who  are  disposed  to  cling  to  the  pow 
ers  that  be  with  one  hand,  and  to  the  people  with  the  other.  There 
was  something  fascinating  in  the  boldness  with  which  he  planted 
himself  on  the  extreme  frontier  of  the  public  rights,  and  with  which 
he  hurled  defiance  at  the  parliament  and  at  the  throne.  Yet  such 
was  his  wisdom  and  ability  in  council,  that  so  competent  a  judge 
as  George  Maeon,  who  in  passing  through  this  city  in  the  spring 
of  1774  was  invited  to  the  consultation  of  the  leading  patriots,  de 
clared  in  a  letter  written  at  the  time  and  recently  brought  to  light, 

*  Carrington  Memoranda.  Paul  Carrington  distinctly  remembered  seeing 
Mr.  Jefferson  among  the  spectators  in  the  debate  on  Henry's  resolutions. 

t  Although  it  may  well  be  doubted  that  much  of  the  speech  published  by 
Wirt  is  apochryphal,  some  of  its  expressions  and  the  outline  of  the  argument 
are  believed  to  be  authentic. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  151 

that  "  he  was  not  only  the  most  eloquent  speaker  he  ever  heard, 
but  that  his  eloquence  is  the  smallest  part  of  his  merit.  He  is  in 
my  opinion  the  first  man  on  this  continent  as  well  in  ability  as  in 
public  virtues,  and  had  he  lived  in  Rome  about  the  time  of  the  first 
Punic  war,  when  the  Roman  people  had  arrived  at  their  meridian 
glory,  and  their  virtues  not  tarnished,  Mr.  Henry's  talents  must 
have  put  him  at  the  head  of  that  glorious  commonwealth."*  If 
every  other  record  of  the  worth  of  Henry  were  obliterated,  this 
letter  of  George  Mason  would  stamp  immortality  upon  his  name. 

When  Henry  took  his  seat  in  the  Convention  as  a  delegate  from 
Hanover,  he  may  be  said  to  have  appeared  under  a  cloud.  He 
had  recently  thrown  up  his  commission  as  colonel  of  the  first  regi 
ment,  and,  as  such,  commander  of  the  forces  of  the  colony,  and  he 
was  in  the  midst  of  men  who  had  inflicted  what  some  were  in 
clined  to  deem  an  indignity  upon  him.  Pendleton  was  in  the  chair, 
and  in  diiferent  parts  of  the  house  were  Mason,  Carrington,  Digges, 
Mercer,  Tabb,  Jones,  Bland,  Ludwell  Lee,  and  Cabell  of  Union 
Hill.  Thomas  Walker  alone  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  was  ab 
sent.  Of  the  state  of  affairs  which  impelled  him  to  resign  his 
post  I  have  already  spoken  at  length;!  and  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  he  possessed  those  qualities  which  make  a  wary  par- 
tizan,  and  which  are  so  often  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  by 
uneducated  men.  Regular  fighting  there  was  none  in  the  colony, 
until  near  the  close  of  the  war.  But,  if  Henry  did  not  possess 
those  qualities,  it  was  because  he  possessed  others  of  a  higher  kind 
with  which  they  were  in  some  degree  incompatible.  The  most 
skillful  partizan  in  the  Virginia  of  that  day,  covered  as  it  was 
with  forests,  cut  up  by  streams  and  beset  by  predatory  bands, 
would  have  been  the  Indian  warrior,  and,  as  a  soldier  approached 
that  model,  would  he  have  possessed  the  proper  tactics  for  the  time. 
That  Henry  would  not  have  made  a  better  Indian  fighter  than 
Jay,  or  Livingston,  or  the  Adamses,  that  he  might  not  have  made 
as  dashing  a  partizan  as  Tarleton  or  Simcoe,  his  friends  might  read 
ily  afford  to  concede  ;  but  that  he  evinced,  what  neither  Jay,  nor 
Livingston,  nor  the  Adamses  did  evince,  a  determined  resolution  to 
stake  his  reputation  and  his  life  on  the  issue  of  arms,  and  that  he 
resigned  his  commission  when  the  post  of  imminent  danger  was 

*  Letter  of  Mason  to  Cockburn,  Va.  Hist.  Register,  Vol.  Ill,  27. 
Under  the  head  of  Pendleton. 


152  PATRICK    HENRY. 

refused  him,  exhibit  lucid  proof  that,  whatever  may  have  been  his 
ultimate  fortune,  he  was  not  deficient  in  two  great  elements  of  mili 
tary  success;  personal  enterprize  and  unquestioned  courage. 

The  face  of  Henry  is  known  from  the  portrait  by  Sully,  and 
Sully 's  portrait,  though  copied  from  a  miniature  corrected  by  the 
recollections  of  friends,  is  thought  a  fair  likeness  ;  yet  it  is  proper 
to  say  that  I  have  often  heard  from  one  of  his  contemporaries  who 
knew  every  feature  of  that  magical  face,  and  who  had  seen  the 
likeness  of  Sully,  that  there  was  a  more  striking  resemblance  be 
tween  the  face  of  Henry  and  the  face  of  Capt.  Cook  the  navigator 
than  between  the  face  of  Henry  and  that  of  the  portrait  by  Sully.* 
He  was  always  plain  in  his  dress,  and  disliked  changes  in  the  fash 
ions.  "  Here,"  said  he  to  a  friend,  holding  up  his  arm  and  dis 
playing  the  sleeve  of  a  coat  the  worse  for  wear,  "here  is  a  coat 
good  enough  for  me  ;  yet  I  must  get  a  new  one  to  please  the  eyes 
of  other  people."  His  tastes  were  simple.  He  loved  the  old 
dishes  which  he  had  seen  served  from  infancy  on  his  father's  plain 
board,  and  was  not  indisposed  to  associate  a  love  of  the  standard 
dishes  of  the  country  with  a  love  of  the  country  itself.  When  he 
heard  that  Mr.  Jefferson,  recently  returned  from  France,  had  in 
troduced  a  number  of  French  dishes  into  his  cuisine,  he  talked 
harshly  about  a  man's  "abjuring  his  native  victuals."  In  later 
life  as  in  his  younger  days,  he  was  always  accessible  by  those  who 
sought  him.  He  was  wont  to  tell  with  great  zest  an  incident  that 
happened  in  the  yard  of  Prince  Edward  Court  House  just  before 
leaving  the  county  to  take  his  seat  in  the  federal  Convention  in 
Richmond.  An  old  fox-hunter  gave  him  a  sharp  tap  on  the.  shoul 
der,  and  said  to  him:  "Old  fellow,  stick  to  the  people;  if  you 
take  the  back  track,  we  are  gone." 

If  Henry  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  of  the  Convention  was 
under  a  cloud,  he  was  to  appear  before  its  close  in  his  true  light  as 
the  herald  of  the  Revolution.  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  June  that 
body  adopted  the  constitution  and  immediately  proceeded  in  pursu 
ance  of  its  provisions  to  elect  a  governor.  On  counting  the  ballots 
it  was  found  that  Henry  had  received  a  large  majority,  and  he 

*  Such  was  the  opinion  of  Col.  C.  Carrington  and,  I  am  toltl,  of  Judge  Mar 
shall.  It  may  be  well  enough  to  say  that  the  portrait  of  Sully  is  at  Red  Hill, 
and  that  a  fine  copy  of  it  has  been  presented  to  the  Va.  Historical  Society  by 
the  distinguished  artist  arid  now  graces  its  hall  in  Richmond. 


PATRICK    HENRY.  153 

was  declared  duly  elected.  *  By  a  resolution  of  the  body  the  palace 
was  assigned  as  his  residence,  and  he  was  soon  installed  in  the 
building  which  Dunrnore  had  deserted,  which  had  long  been  the 
abode  of  the  vice-gerents  of  kings,  but  which  now  gained  a  greater 
glory  than  it  had  yet  known  as  the  residence  of  the-  first  Governor 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia-^  and  that  Governor  the  master 
spirit  who  in  the  senate  was  the  first  to  assail  the  supremacy  of  the 
British  king,  and  to  incur  the  bitter  hatred  of  his  adherents  ;  who 
was  the  first  to  draw  his  sword  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  his  coun 
try  and  to  equip  her  armies  for  the  field,  as  he  was  the  first  to  com 
mand  them  ;  and  who  was  among  the  first  to  propose  independence 
and  to  form  that  system  of  government  of  which  he  wras  the  first 
Chief  Magistrate.! 

In  all  great  movements  of  the  public  mind  in  governments 
whether  free  or  despotic,  it  rarely  happens  that  the  chief  glory 
belongs  to  a  single  individval.  It  would  seem,  as  if,  by  a  special 
design  of  Providence,  to  repress  the  promptings  of  ambition,  that 
particular  provinces  of  dut}r  are  assigned  to  particular  persons,  who 
reap  indeed  individual  honor  and  reputation  by  a  display  of  their 
genius  and  worth,  but  whose  blended  glories,  instead  of  encircling 
a  single  head,  are  made  to  constitute  the  moral  capital  of  the  new 
system.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  Revolution.  Indisputable  as 
was  the  pre-eminence  of  Washington  in  the  field,  even  in  the  field  he 
had  co-adjutors  worthy  of  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged  ;  and 
there  were  duties  to  be  performed  quite  as  urgent  as  those  com 
mitted  to  him,  which  were  wholly  beyond  his  reach,  and  from 
which  his  modesty  would  instantly  have  shrunk.  To  confine  our 
views  to  Virginia  :  It  would  seem  difficult  to  have  assigned  any 
two  other  persons  to  the  spheres  which  before  and  during  the  Rev 
olution  were  so  ably  filled  by  Pendleton  and  Wythe ;  yet  there 
were  spheres  beyond  the  ability  of  Pendleton  and  Wythe  as  well 
as  of  Washington,  which  it  wras  indispensable  to  the  success  of 

*  The  vote  was  for  Henry  60,  Thomas  Nelson  45,  John  Page  1. 

f  1  have  alluded  to  the  friendship  which  existed  between  Henry  and  R.  H. 
Lee.  In  spite  of  a  wide  diiference  of  opinion  on  measures  of  local  legislation, 
each  advocating  his  own  views  with  great  earnestness  in  debate,  they  were 
warm  personal  friends.  Lee,  while  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  closes  a  letter  to  Henry  with  these  words  :  "  I  am  with  the  most  cordial 
regard  and  esteem,  dear  sir,  your  most  affectionate  friend  and  servant."  Henry's 
salutations  were  equally  cordial  and  ail'ectionate.  See  the  letters  of  Lee  and 
Henry  at  Red  Hill. 


154  GEORGE   MASON. 

the  common  cause  to  be  adequately  filled.  Hence,  as  by  a  divine 
impulse,  Richard  Henry  Lee  and  Patrick  Henry  appeared  on  the 
stage.  Such  was  the  dignity  of  the  parts  which  they  played  in 
that  superb  drama,  that  the  historian,  who  should  write  an  account 
of  the  Revolution  and  slight  their  names,  would  as  little  deserve  our 
respect  as  the  historian,  who.  in  describing  the  English  Common 
wealth,  should  overlook  the  names  of  Hampden  and  Pym,  or  who, 
in  reviewing  the  literature  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth  or  the  age  of 
Cromwell,  should  omit  the  name  of  the  author  of  Macbeth,  or  of  the 
author  of  Paradise  Lost.  Yet  there  were  other  parts  to  be  per 
formed  of  equal  if  not  greater  importance  than  theirs,  which  neither 
Pendleton,  nor  Wythe,  nor  Washington,  nor  Lee,  nor  Henry  could 
have  performed  as  well,  but  which  were  performed  with  such  skill 
and  wisdom  as  to  overawe  us  at  this  distance  of  time,  and  which 
fills  us  with  a  spirit  of  thankfulness  to  the  Ruler  of  Nations  when 
we  contemplate  the  characters  and  pronounce  the  names  of  GEORGE 
MASON  and  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

Both  were  members  of  the  Convention  now  sitting.  Mason,  who 
was  seventeen  years  older  than  his  compeer,  had  attained  his  fif 
tieth  year,  and  though  his  once  raven  locks  were  touched  with 
grey,  and  he  had  just  recovered  from  a  smart  shock  of  an  hereditary 
disease,*  appeared  in  the  vigor  of  manhood.  He  was  nearly  six 
feet  high,  of  a  large  and  sinewy  frame,  and  an  active  step  and  gait. 
The  love  of  his  gun  and  of  the  sports  of  the  field  kept  his  limbs  in 
fine  play.  He  was  one  of  the  most  systematic,  most  extensive,  and 
most  successful  planters  in  the  colony,  shipping  to  England  from 
his  barn-yard  wharf  at  Gunston,  his  splendid  seat  on  the  Potomac, 
his  crops  of  tobacco,  and  receiving  thence  her  manufactures  in  re 
turn.  Exposure  had  deepened  the  tints  of  a  light  brown  complexion ; 
and  it  was  impossible  to  behold  his  athletic  form  and  his  grave  face 
lighted  up  by  a  black  eye  which  burned  with  the  brightness  of  youth, 
without  a  feeling  of  respect  approaching  to  awe.  His  bearing  was  in 
the  highest  degree  courteous  but  lofty,  and  he  seemed  at  first  sight  to 
belong  to  that  class  of  which  Washington  and  Andrew  Lewis  were 
members — men  of  such  high  and  noble  qualities  and  of  such  august 
presence  as  rather  to  command  the  admiration  of  the  beholder  than 

*  See  his  letter  to  R.  H.  Lee,  dated  May  18,  1776,  in  the  archives  of  the  Va. 
Historical  Society,  wherein  he  says  that  he  has  just  recovered  from  a  fit  of  the 
gout. 


GEORGE   MASON.  155 

to  quicken  the  gentler  feelings  of  affection  and  love.  Yet  no  man 
was  more  sensible  of  the  warmest  emotions  of  friendship,  as  I  have 
heard  from  those  who  knew  him,  and  as  his  letters  to  his  contem 
poraries  strikingly  show.  His  portrait,  which  long  adorned  the 
hospitable  mansion  of  Analosta,  may  still  be  seen  at  Clermont.*  As 
you  look  upon  it,  you  perceive  that  his  dark  eyes  have  that  pecu 
liar  expression,  half  sad,  half  severe, 'which  is  seen  in  the  eyes  of 
the  painter  Giotto,  the  shepherd  boy,  whom  Cimabue  found  in  the 
recesses  of  the  Alps  tending  sheep,  and  who,  when,  like  Mason, 
he  was  summoned  from  his  forest  home,  like  Mason,  made  an  era 
in  the  history  of  his  art. 

In  Mason  those  titles  to  the  public  confidence,  which  were  sev 
erally  held  by  others,  were  united  in  a  remarkable  manner.  He 
was,  as  before  observed,  a  large  and  prosperous  planter,  possessed 
of  great  wealth  hereditary  and  acquired.  He  had  never  been  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  was  free  from  the  entan 
glements,  political  and  personal,  of  party  and  passion  in  which  some 
of  the  leading  patriots  for  the  past  ten  years  had  been  deeply  involved. 
He  had  never  sought  office,  and  would  have  declined  a  seat  in  the 
Council,  the  brilliant  prize  of  colonial  ambition,  had  it  been  offered 
him.  Not  a  lawyer  by  profession,  he  was  yet  thoroughly  skilled 
not  only  in  general  history,  but  especially  in  the  political  history  of 
England.  He  had  been  educated  in  the  colony,  probably  at  this 
college,  and,  like  Washington,  had  never  been  abroad;  but  from  an 
early  period  of  life  devoting  his  leisure  to  study,  he  had  become  so 
deeply  versed  in  the  knowledge  of  our  early  charters  and  in  the 
lore  of  the  British  constitution,  that,  in  the  midst  of  men  whose 
lives  had  been  devoted  to  law,  his  opinions  on  a  great  political 
question  had  almost  a  conclusive  authority.  As  if  no  means  of 
usefulness  should  be  wanting  to  this  extraordinary  man,  he  was  as 
much  distinguished  by  his  ability  in  debate  as  by  his  wisdom  in 
council.  Nor  do  his  eminent  abilities  in  discussion  rest  on  tradi 
tion.  His  merits  as  a  speaker  are  avouched  by  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the 
strongest  terms,  and  an  equally  competent  judge,  who  had  often 
beheld  his  forensic  exhibitions,  and  who  had  encountered  him  in 
the  greatest  parliamentary  discussion  of  that  age,  the  cool  and 
critical  Madison,  pronounced  him  the  ablest  man  in  debate  whom 

*  A  copy  from  an  original  which  was  destroyed  by  fire.  Clermont  is  the 
seat  of  the  widow  of  Gen.  John  Mason. 


156  GEORGE   MASON. 

he  had  ever  seen.  *  There  was  another  title  to  consideration, 
which,  trifling  as  it  may  seem  in  our  eyes,  exerted  no  contemptible 
influence  on  the  aristocratic  society  of  the  colony.  On  the  score 
of  birth  his  position  was  of  the  highest.  His  ancestor,  whose  name 
he  bore,  was  a  member  of  parliament  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the 
First,  and  though,  like  Hyde  and  Falkland,  intent  on  effecting  im 
portant  amendments  in  the  existing  system,  did  not  seek  an  over 
throw  of  the  monarchy,  and,  like  Hyde  and  Falkland,  on  the  ap 
peal  to  arms  adhered  to  the  king.  He  organized  a  military  corps, 
and  in  several  engagements  had  crossed  swords  with  the  troopers  of 
Cromwell,  and  had  emptied  his  holsters  at  his  warlike  saints.  From 
1651,  when  George  Mason,  the  eldest,  flying  from  the  field  of 
Worcester,  arrived  in  Hampton  Roads,  to  the  period  of  the  Revo 
lution,  the  Masons  had  exerted  either  in  the  House  of  Burgesses 
or  at  home  great  influence  in  the  colony. t 

*  Mr,  Jefferson's  personal  Memoir  in  the  first  volume  of  his  works,  and  the 
letter  of  St.  George  Tucker  to  Wirtin  Kennedy's  Life  of  Wirt,  heretofore  quoted. 

f  As  stated  in  the  text,  George  Mason,  the  eldest,  reached  the  Colony  of  Vir 
ginia  and  landed  in  Norfolk  county  in  1651,  and  was  soon  after  followed  by  his 
family.  He  immediately  removed  to  Acohick  creek  on  the  Potomac  near 
Pasbitaney,  and  settled  a  plantation  there,  on  which  he  resided  during  his  life, 
and  is  there  buried.  In  1676,  the  year  of  Bacon's  Rebellion,  he  commanded  a 
volunteer  force  against  the  Indians,  and  represented  the  same  year  the  county 
of  Stafford  in  the  House  of  Burgesses.  Stafford  had  been  carved  out  of  West 
moreland  the  year  before,  and  was  so  named  by  Col.  Mason  in  honor  of  his  na 
tive  county  of  Staffordshire  in  England.  His  eldest  son,  also  called  George 
Mason,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Girard  Fowke  esq.  of  Gunston  Hall  in  Staf 
fordshire,  England.  The  eldest  son  of  this  marriage  also  bore  the  name  of 
George  Mason,  the  third  of  the  name,  and  with  his  father  lived  and  was  buried 
on  the  patrimonial  estate  of  Acohick.  Their  wills  are  of  record  in  Stalibrd 
County  Court  in  1710  and  1715  respectively.  George  Mason,  the  fourth  in  de 
scent,  eldest  son  of  George  last  named,  married  a  daughter  of  Stevens  Thomson 
of  Middle  Temple,  Attorney  General  of  the  colony  of  Virginia  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Anne.  He  established  a  plantation  at  Doeg  Neck  on  the  Potomac  on 
land  which  he  inherited,  then  in  Stafford,  now  in  Fairfax  county,  and  was  the 
"  Lieutenant  and  chief  Commander  "  of  the  county  of  Stafford  in  1719.  He  was 
drowned  by  the  accidental  upsetting  of  his  sail-boat  in  the  Potomac,  and  his 
body  having  been  recovered  was  committed  to  the  grave  at  Doeg's  Neck.  He 
left  three  children,  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  Of  these  sons  one  was  the  George 
Mason  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  and  the  other  was  Thomson  Mason,  hardly 
less  celebrated  than  his  brother,  who  settled  in  Loudoun,  was  frequently  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  an  eminent  member  of  the  bar,  and  a  warm 
friend  of.  his  country.  Thompson  Mason  was  a  martyr  to  the  gout,  and  it  is  one 
of  the  earliest  recollections  of  Gov.  Tazewell  to  have  seen  him  borne  into  court 
while  suffering  from  that  disease.  His  son  Stevens  Thomson  Mason  was  a 
member  of  the  Virginia  Federal  Convention,  and  was  a  senator  of  the  United 
States,  and  had  a  son,  Armistead  Thomson  Mason,  who  was  also  a  senator  of 
the  United  States  from  Virginia. 

The  George  Mason  of  the  text,  the  fifth  of  the  name,  was  born  at  the  planta 
tion  of  Doeg's  Neck,  which  he  inherited,  in  1726,  married  Ann  Eilbeck  of  Charles 
county,  Maryland,  and  built  a  new  mansion  on  the  high  banks  of  the  Potomac 


GEORGE  MASON.  157 

Nor  were  these  his  only  recommendations  to  the  public  regard. 
From  the  dawn  of  the  contest  with  the  mother  country,  though 
deeply  attached  to  the  Hanover  family,  and  averse  from  indepen 
dence,  he  planted  himself  firmly  and  fearlessly  on  the  extreme 
limit  of  colonial  right,  and  proclaimed  his  determination  to  main 
tain  his  ground  at  every  hazard.  When  the  merchants  of  London 
addressed  a  public  letter  to  the  planters  of  Virginia  on  the  repeal 
of  the  stamp  act,  Mason  gave  it  a  calm  and  deliberate  answer,  de 
fending  the  position  maintained  by  the  colonists  in  a  masterly  man 
ner,  and  concluding  with  these  monitory  words :  "  These  are  the 
sentiments  of  a  man  who  spends  most  of  his  time  in  retirement,  and 
has  seldom  meddled  in  public  affairs  ;  who  enjoys  a  moderate  but 
independent  fortune,  and  content  with  the  blessings  of  a  private 
station,  equally  disregards  the  smiles  and  the  frowns  of  the  great.'''* 

When  the  right  was  subsequently  asserted  by  Parliament  to  tax 
the  colonies  "in  all  cases  whatsoever,"  Mason  wrote  a  tract  with 
the  modest  title  of  "  Extracts  from  the  Virginia  Charters  with  some 
remarks  upon  them,"  which  was  ragarded  as  an  unanswerable 
exposition  of  colonial  rights  under  the  charters,  and  which  proved 
a  rich  mine  of  authority  in  the  controversy  then  waging  between 
the  king  and  the  colonies.  What  gave  additional  force  to  the  pro 
ductions  of  Mason's  pen  was  the  modest  and  conservative  character 
which  he  uniformly  maintained.  He  cherished  no  love  of  change. 
He  openly  expressed  just  before  the  appeal  to  arms  his  attachment 
to  the  House  of  Brunswick,  and  insisted  on  the  importance  of  a  co- 
near  the  river,  which  he  called  Gunston  Hall,  in  honor  of  the  seat  of  his  mater 
nal  ancestry  in  England.  Here  he  lived,  and  here  on  the  7th  of  October,  1792, 
in  the  66th  year  of  his  age,  he  died,  and  was  buried.  A  plain  marble  slab  marks 
his  grave,  and  has  engraved  upon  it  his  name  and  the  date  of  his  birth  and 
death.  The  estate  of  Doeg's  Neck,  afterwards  Gunston  Hall,  consisted  of  seven 
thousand  acres,  and  lies  on  the  Potomac  next  below  Mount  Vernon,  This  ven 
erable  patriot  left  five  sons  and  four  daughters.  Of  the  sons,  George,  the  eldest, 
was  a  captain  in  the  Virginia  line  of  the  Revolution,  and  inherited  Gunston 
Hall,  where  he  lived  and  was  buried,  leaving  descendants.  The  fourth  son  was 
the  late  Gen.  John  Mason  of  Analosta  Island,  who  survived  all  his  brothers,  and 
died  at  his  estate  at  Clermont  in  Fairfax  County  in  March  1849  in  the  83rd  year 
of  his  age.  The  Hon.  James  Murray  Mason,  one  of  the  present  senators  of 
Virginia  in  Congress,  is  a  son  of  Gen.  John  Mason,  and  is  the  third  of  the  name 
and  race  that  has  filled  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  All  the  sons 
of  George  Mason  left  descendants.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  account  of 
Bacon's  Rebellion  by  T.  M.  was  written  by  George  Mason  the  eldest,  the  T. 
being  a  misprint  for  G.,  or  used  designedly,  as  may  have  been  other  things  in 
that  account. 

*  This  answer  was  published  under  the  signature  of  a  Virginia  Planter  in 
the  London  Public  Ledger  of  1766. 


158  GEORGE   MASON. 

lonial  connexion  with  Great  Britain.  Writing  to  a  friend  in  England 
in  1770,  when  he  had  recited  in  the  strongest  terms  the  injuries 
which  England  had  inflicted  on  the  colonies,  and  had  indignantly 
denied  the  imputed  design  of  ambitious  men  to  separate  from  the 
parent  country,  he  added:  "There  are  not  five  men  of  sense  who 
would  accept  of  independence,  if  it  were  offered.  We  know  our  cir 
cumstances  too  well;  we  know  that  our  happiness,  our  very  being, 
depends  upon  our  connexion  with  the  mother  country.  But  we  will 
not  submit  to  have  our  money  taken  out  of  our  pockets  without  our 
consent;  because  if  any  man,  or  any  set  of  men,  take  from  us 
without  our  consent  or  that  of  our  representatives,  one  shilling  in 
the  pound,  we  have  no  security  for  the  remaining  nineteen." 
When  we  reflect  on  the  Indian  wars  from  1756  to  the  beginning  of 
the  Revolution,  and  their  cost  in  blood  and  treasure  to  the  colony, 
and  recall  the  disastrous  defeat  of  two  gallant  armies  of  Washington 
against  the  western  Indians;  and  when  we  also  recall  the  cherished 
design  of  France  and  Spain  to  encroach  on  our  frontier,  and  the 
defenceless  condition  of  the  colonial  export  and  import  trade,  we 
may  easily  imagine  how  important  in  the  eyes  of  a  reflecting  colo 
nist  would  be  an  honorable  connexion  with  the  greatest  military 
and  maritime  nation  of  the  globe.  And  here  the  lesson  should  not 
be  overlooked,  and  which  the  present  generation  may  wisely  heed, 
how  readily  a  mighty  empire  bound  together  by  the  nearest  and 
dearest  ties  of  blood,  of  affection,  of  a  common  language,  and  of 
a  common  faith,  and  of  all  the  precious  recollections  which  more 
than  ten  centuries  had  clustered  about  the  British  name,  may  be 
rent  asunder  by  passion  and  pride  seeking  a  contest,  which,  if  suc 
cessful,  could  bring  no  laurels  unmoistened  in  fraternal  blood,  but 
which,  if  lost,  would  entail  never-ending  hate  between  ancient 
friends  and  a  perpetual  separation. 

The  measures  adopted  from  time  to  time  by  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  in  the  early  stages  of  the  colonial  troubles  received  a  firm 
and  cordial  support  from  Mason.  It  was  at  a  meeting  of  the  peo 
ple  of  Fairfax  on  the  eighteenth  of  July,  1774,  that  he  may  be  said 
to  have  made  his  first  great  movement  on  the  theatre  of  the  Rev 
olution.*  The  affairs  of  the  northern  colonies  were  approaching  a 

*  Although  this  was  the  first  public  appearance  of  Mason,  he  had  been  active 
in  conversation  and  with  his  pen  at  a  much  earlier  period.  The  articles  of  As 
sociation  adopted  at  the  Raleigh  after  the  dissolution  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 


GEORGE   MASON.  159 

crisis,  and  our  own  horizon  wore  a  threatening  aspect.  Washing 
ton  took  the  chair,  and  Mason  presented  a  series  of  resolutions  which 
must  always  hold  a  conspicuous  place  among  the  records  of  the 
times.  They  were  twenty-four  in  number,  and  not  only  embraced 
a  statement  of  the  case  in  hand,  but  presented  the  means  and 
measure  of  redress.  They  reviewed  the  whole  ground  of  contro 
versy,  recommended  a  Congress  of  the  colonies,  and  urged  the  pol 
icy  of  non-intercourse  with  the  mother  country.  These  resolutions 
were  transmitted  to  the  first  Virginia  Convention  which  held  its 
session  in  this  city  in  the  following  August,  and  were  sanctioned  by 
that  body;  and  substantially  adopted  by  the  first  General  Congress  on 
the  twentieth  of  the  following  October.*  The  policy  of  these  resolu 
tions  was  wisely  adjusted  to  the  existing  public  sentiment,  and  united 
all  parties  on  a  common  ground  of  resistance.  They  were  decided 
and  thorough,  and  were  calculated  to  enlist  the  commercial  interests 
of  Great  Britain  on  the  side  of  the  colonies ;  but  they  pointed  to 
reconciliation,  not  to  Revolution.  Had  the  colonists  aimed  at  inde 
pendence,  the  sagacity  of  Mason  would  have  devised  other  meas 
ures  more  plausible  and  effectual  for  such  a  purpose.  A  prudent 
British  ministry  might  yet  have  honorably  interposed  with  success, 
and  saved  the  integrity  of  the  British  empire. 

Such  was  the  modesty  of  this  eminent  patriot,  and  such  his  love 
of  domestic  life,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  was  persuaded  to  en- 

in  1769  were  from  his  pen.  As  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  House  and  was 
not  present  in  the  city  of  Williamsburg  when  the  articles  were  adopted,  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment,  I  doubted  his  claim  to  their  authorship ;  but  it  is  now  cer 
tain  that  the  articles  were  brought  to  the  city  by  Washington  who  is  said  to 
have  offered  them  to  the  meeting.  There  were  some  slight  additions,  which 
may  be  seen  in  Writings  of  Washington  Vol.  II,  356,  note.  The  articles  them 
selves  may  be  seen  in  Burk,  Vol.  Ill,  345,  note,  and  are  signed  by  the  following 
gentlemen,  who  were  also  members  of  the  present  Convention  : 

Robert  Carter  Nicholas,  Richard  Bland,  Archibald  Gary,  Richard  H.  Lee,  P. 
Henry,  Henry  Lee,  N.  Terry,  Thomas  Whiting,  T.  Jerterson,  T.  Nelson  jr., 
Champion  Travis,  John  Blair  jr.,  James  Scott,  Wilson  Miles  Gary,  Willis  Rid- 
dick,  John  Woodsori,  Abraham  Hite,  Francis  Peyton,  James  Wood,  Edwin 
Gray,  David  Mason,  Paul  Carrington,  William  Cabell,  Henry  Taylor,  Robert 
Rutherford,  Charles  Lynch,  Win.  Clayton,  Lewis  Burwell,  Thomas  Johnson, 
William  Acrill,  Richard  Lee,  Southey  Simpson,  and  Peter  Poythress.  For  the 
rest  of  the  names,  among  which  are  those  of  Peyton  Randolph,  Washington, 
Isaac  Read,  Richard  Baker,  &c.,  see  Burk  quoted  above. 

Mason  in  a  letter  to  Washington  (Writings  of  Washington,  Vol.  Ill,  354,) 
says  that  he  had  begun  an  address  to  the  people  which  the  weakness  of  his 
eyes  compelled  him  to  put  aside.  Whether  it  was  finished  or  not,  1  cannot 
affirm. 

*  See  American  Archives  for  1774,  Vol.  I,  Fourth  Series;  also  Sparks,  Writ 
ings  of  Washington  Vol.  II,  488,  Appendix  No.  9. 


160  GEORGE  MASON. 

ter  on  a  public  career.  He  had  never  been  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  and  it  was  not  until  the  meeting  of  the  Convention 
of  July,  1775,  that  he  appeared  in  the  public  councils.  He  had 
been  returned  in  the  place  of  Washington,  who  had  been  deputed 
to  Congress,  and  the  county  of  Fairfax  may  dwell  with  becoming 
pride  on  the  recollection  that,  when  her  Washington  was  engaged 
in  the  public  service  abroad,  she  could  substitute  a  Mason  in  his 
stead.  Though  not  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  the  previoui 
March,  he  had  approved  the  resolutions  of  Henry  adopted  at  that 
session  for  putting  the  colony  in  a  posture  of  defence,  and  now  sus 
tained  a  resolution  of  like  nature,  which  provided  '-that  a  sufficient 
armed  force  be  immediately  raised  and  embodied,  under  proper  offi 
cers,  for  the  defence  and  protection  of  the  colony, ".and  which  re 
sulted  in  the  organization  of  the  two  first  Virginia  Regiments.  We 
know  from  one  of  his  letters*  that  this  committee  began  its  labors 
at  seven  in  the  morning,  and  sat  until  the  meeting  of  the  Conven 
tion,  which  body  rarely  adjourned  before  five  oclock.  After  a 
slight  refreshment  the  committee  again  resumed  its  work,  not  retir 
ing  till  ten. 

He  was  elected  by  the  Convention  a  member  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety,  his  same  standing  on  the  list  second  only  to  that  of  Pen- 
dleton.  At  an  early  period  of  the  session  he  was  pressed  to  accept 
a  seat  in  Congress,  but  he  declined  going  abroad.  Later  in  the  ses 
sion,  on  the  retirement  of  Col.  Bland,  he  was  urgently  solicited  by 
Pendleton,  Henry,  Carrington,  and  others  to  go  to  Congress,  and 
was  put  in  nomination ;  and  when  he  rose  in  his  place  to  assign  his 
reasons  for  declining  the  appointment,  tears  were  seen  to  flow  from 
the  eyes  of  Peyton  Randolph,  who  presided  in  the  body.t  The 
Convention  adjourned  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  August,  closing  its  la 
bors  with  a  formal  "Declaration"  addressed  to  the  people,  possibly 
from  his  pen,  "setting  forth  the  causes  of  their  meeting,  and  the 
necessity  of  immediately  putting  the  colony  into  a  posture  of  de 
fence,  for  the  better  protection  of  the  lives,  liberties,  and  proper 
ties"  of  the  people,  and  leaving  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment  in  the  hands  of  the  Committee  of  Safety. 

*  Mason  to  Cockburn  in  the  Va.  Historical  Register,  heretofore  quoted. 

•)•  An  affecting  account  of  the  scene  may  be  read  in  the  letter  of  Mason  to 
Cockburn,  dated  August  22,  1775,  in  the  Virginia  Historical  Register.  The 
cause  of  his  declining  was  the  recent  death  of  Mrs.  Mason,  who  left  five  sons 
and  four  daughters. 


GEORGE  MASON.  Id 

The  duties  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  have  already  been  detail 
ed  at  length.*  Suffice  it  to  observe,  that  it  was  the  supreme  execu 
tive  of  the  colony  in  a  time  of  civil  war,  and  demanded  of  those 
who  composed  it  the  first  order  of  wisdom,  courage,  and  virtue. 
For  such  a  station  no  man  living  was  better  qualified  than  Mason  ; 
and  he  is  entitled  to  a  full  share  of  thfe  .credit  earned  by  that  patri 
otic  body. 

It  was,  however,  in  the  Convention  now  sitting,  that  Mason  laid 
the  deep  foundations  of  his  imperishable  fame.  The  body  met  on 
the  sixth  of  May ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  eighteenth  that  Mason, 
who  had  been  detained  by  a  fit  of  the  gout,  took  his  seat.  The 
resolution  instructing  the  delegates  of  Virginia  in  Congress  to  pro 
pose  independence  had  been  adopted  three  days  before,  when  the 
Committee  to  prepare  a  declaration  of  rights  and  a  plan  of  govern 
ment  wras  appointed.!  But  he  was  immediately  placed  on  that 
committee.  That  it  should  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  Mason, 
who  came  so  late  into  a  committee  consisting  of  so  many 
eminent  men,  to  draft  the  declaration  of  rights  and  the  plan  of 
government,  is  a  signal  demonstration  of  his  character,  and  dis 
plays  the  universal  confidence  reposed  in  his  judgment  and  abili 
ties.  On  the  day  of  his  arrival  he  was  also  assigned  to  the  com 
mittee  of  Propositions  and  Grievances,  to  the  committee  of  Privi 
leges  and  Elections,  and  to  a  select  committee  already  organized  for 
the  encouragement  of  the  making  of  salt,  saltpetre  and  gunpowder. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  members 
by  ancient  parliamentary  usage  was  placed  upon  committees,  and 
that  Mason,  though  arriving  late,  was  immediately  placed  on  all  the 
important  ones,  a  striking  proof  is  presented  of  the  estimation  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  contemporaries  at  this  early  stage  of  his 
career.  The  ordinance  establishing  a  general  test  was  drawn  by 
him. 

The  declaration  of  rights  was  reported  by  the  select  committee  to 
the  house  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  May,  and  on  the  12th  of 

*  In  the  sketch  of  Pendleton. 

t  It  would  seem  that  the  resolution  proposing  the  instructions  in  favor  of  in 
dependence,  though  nominally  unanimous,  had  some  opponents  in  the  house. 
Mason,  writing  to  R.  H.  Lee  on  the  18th  of  May,  1776,  says :  "  The  opponents 
being  so  few  that  they  did  not  think  fit  to  divide,  or  contradict  the  general 
voice."  See  the  letter  in  the  archives  of  the  Historical  Society.  In  the  same 
letter  he  says  of  the  preamble  to  the  resolution,  that  "  it  is  tedious,  rather 
timid,  and  in  many  instances  exceptionable." 
11 


162  GEORGE  MASON. 

June  "the  Declaration  of  Rights  made  by  the  good  people  of  Vir 
ginia,  assembled  in  full  and  free  Convention, — which  rights  do 
pertain  to  them  and  their  posterity  as  the  basis  and  foundation  of 
government,"  was  adopted  by  an  unanimous  vote. 

Posterity  will  rejoice  that  the  drafting  of  the  Declaration  of 
Rights  devolved  on  George  Mason.  The  texture  of  his  mind  was 
essentially  republican.  When  the  dominion  of  the  crown  was  over 
turned,  of  all  our  distinguished  statesmen,  Jefferson  and  Mason 
seemed  most  at  home  on  the  new  and  difficult  ground  which  they 
were  treading.  With  the  history  of  England  Mason  was  familiar ; 
and  he  knew  the  landmarks  of  every  concession  in  favor  of  liberty 
from  Magna  Carta  to  the  revolution  which  placed  William  and 
Mary  on  the  British  throne.  No  person  who  had  not  studied 
English  history  in  the  spirit  of  a  philosopher  and  a  statesman  could 
have  written  the  Declaration.  It  has  been  compared  to  the  Peti 
tion  of  Right ;  but  it  is  altogether  a  paper  of  a  far  higher  order  of 
merit.  The  Petition  simply  enumerates  the  laws  of  the  land  which 
had  been  violated,  and  prays  that  the  laws  aforesaid  shall  hence 
forth  be  observed ;  but  the  Declaration  of  Rights  lays  down  the 
principles  on  which  all  good  government  ought  to  rest.  The  dif 
ference  between  the  Petition  and  the  Declaration  is  the  difference 
between  the  scheme  of  an  architect  who  proposes  a  plan  for  the  re 
pair  of  a  particular  structure,  and  the  scheme  of  an  architect  who 
prescribes  the  principles  on  which  all  structures  should  be  reared 
and  kept  in  constant  repair.  The  same  remark  applies  with  equal 
force  to  the  Declaration  of  Rights  adopted  by  the  Convention  which 
called  William  and  Mary  to  the  throne.  That  celebrated  instru 
ment,  so  fit  to  effect  the  object  in  view,  is  a  mere  recapitulation  of 
the  acts  of  misgovernment  which  rendered  a  revolution  necessary, 
and  a  formal  declaration  that  the  principles  which  had  been  wan 
tonly  violated  by  the  deposed  king  were  among  the  ancient  rights 
and  liberties  of  England.  No  new  franchise  was  acquired  by  the 
people.  There  was  not  a  curb  placed  on  the  kingly  prerogative 
which  had  not  existed  before.  The  omnipotence  of  parliament  was 
unaasailed.  It  was  wholly  historical  and  retrospective  in  its  scope. 
The  Virginia  Declaration  was  eminently  prospective.  It  marked 
out  the  rules  by  which  the  entire  fabric  of  government  should  be 
framed  and  controlled :  rules  which  bound  with  equal  severity  the 
legislative,  the  judicial,  and  the  executive  departments.  It  is  a  cu- 


GEORGE  MASON.  163 

rious  illustration  of  the  supremacy  accorded  to  genius  in  great  con 
junctures,  that  the  British  Declaration  of  Right  and  the  Virginia 
Declaration  of  Rights  were  written  by  men  who  had  recently  taken 
their  seats  for  the  first  time  in  deliberative  assemblies  which  were 
composed  of  the  oldest  and  ablest  statesmen  of  their  respective  pe 
riods.  When  Somers  drafted  the  Declaration  of  Right,  he  had 
spoken  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  the  first  time  only  ten  days 
before,  and  the  parliamentary  experience  of  Mason  was  hardly 
more  extended.  When  we  reflect,  however,  that  Somers  was  an 
able  lawyer,  deeply  versed  in  constitutional  learning;  that  he  lived  in 
a  country  the  proudest  honors  of  which  were  approached  most 
readily  by  the  law ;  that  he  had  lately  been  engaged  in  the  most 
interesting  state  trial  of  that  age,  in  the  course  of  which  the  pre 
rogative  of  the  king  had  been  keenly  scanned  ;  and  that,  while  he 
was  writing,  his  powers  were  quickened  and  his  spirits  cheered  by 
the  contemplation  of  that  coronet  which  he  was  winning  and  which 
he  was  soon  to  wear ;  and  that  Mason  was  a  planter,  untutored  in 
the  schools,  whose  life  now  verging  to  its  decline  had  been  spent  in  a 
thinly  settled  colony  which  presented  no  sphere  for  ambition  ;  that 
he  had  never  moved  beyond  the  sound  of  the  rustling  leaves  of  his 
native  woods  or  the  ripple  of  his  native  stream ;  and  that  he  was  so  ' 
devoted  to  his  home  that  it  was  with  difficulty  he  could  be  per 
suaded  to  forsake  for  a  season  the  solitudes  of  Gunston  Hall,  the  ge 
nius  of  the  Virginian  appears  in  bolder  relief  when  contrasted  with 
the  genius  of  his  illustrious  prototype. 

The  Virginia  Declaration  of  Rights  is,  indeed,  a  remarkable 
production.  As  an  intellectual  effort,  it  possesses  exalted  merit. 
It  is  the  quintessence  of  all  the  great  principles  and  doctrines  of 
freedom  which  had  been  wrought  out  by  the  people  of  England 
from  the  earliest  times.  To  have  written  such  a  paper  required 
the  taste  of  the  scholar,  the  wisdom  of  the  statesman,  and  the  pu 
rity  of  the  patriot.  The  critical  eye  can  detect  in  its  sixteen  sec 
tions  the  history  of  England  in  miniature.  That  it  should  have 
been  thrown  off  by  a  planter  hastily  summoned  from  his  plough  to 
fill  a  vacancy  in  the  public  councils ;  who  was  not  a  member  of  that 
profession  the  pursuits  of  which  bring  its  votaries  more  directly  than 
any  other  into  contact  with  the  principles  of  political  liberty;  and 
who  performed  his  work  so  thoroughly  that  it  has  neither  received 
nor  required  any  alteration  or  amendment  for  more  than  three-  - 


164  GEOEGE  MASON. 

fourths  of  a  century,  fills  the  mind  with  admiration  and  grandeur. 
Nor  has  it  attained  its  present  excellence  by  the  aid  of  the  com- 
'inittee  by  which  it  was  reported,  nor  of  the  committee  of  the  whole 
house  to  which  it  was  referred.  With  the  exception  of  the  first  ar 
ticle,  which  was  amended,  as  I  have  heard  at  second  hand  from  a 
member  of  the  select  committee,  by  the  insertion  of  ths  \vords: 
""When  men  enter  into  a  siate  of  society,"  it  was  approved  very 
nearly  as  it  was  written.*  By  the  two  Conventions  of  the  state 
which  have  asembled  since  it  was  adopted,  it  has  been  ratified 
without  note  or  comment.  It  received  the  applause  of  the  gene 
ration  which  hailed  its  birth,  and  of  those  generations  which  have 
passed  away,  and  will  receive  the  applause  of  those  to  come.  Its 
great  doctrines,  as  before  observed,  are  the  paramount  doctrines  of 
British  freedom.  Some  of  its  expressions  may  be  gleaned  from- 
Sidney,  from  Locke,  and  from  Burgh ;  but  when  Mason  sat  down 
in  his  room  in  the  Raleigh  Tavern  to  write  that  paper,  it  is  probable 
that  no  copy  of  the  Reply  to  Sir  Robert  Filmer,  or  of  the  Essay  on 
Government,  or  of  the  Political  Disquisitions,  was  within  his  reach.f 

^  The  diction,  the  design,  the  thoughts,  are  all  his  own.  Nor  does 
its  beauty  or  its  worth  suffer  in  comparison  with  similar  productions 
carefully  prepared  at  a  later  day.  The  bill  of  rights,  adopted  by 
Massachusetts  three  years  afterwards,  contains  most  of  its  articles 
evidently  copied  with  a  servile  though  able  hand ;  but  cannot  vie 
in  point  and  in  elegance  with  the  paper  from  the  pen  of  Mason. 

Nor  does  the  glory  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights  of  the  twelfth  of 
June  by  the  Virginia  Convention  yield  to  the  glory  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence  of  the  fourth  of  the  following  July  by  the 
General  Congress.  In  an  intellectual  view,  it  occupies  a  far  loftier 

x  position.  It  stands  without  a  model  in  ancient  or  in  recent  times. 
It  is  the  philosophical  embodiment  of  the  elemental  principles 
which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  society,  and  which,  gathered  from 
the  universal  experience  of  man,  and  refined  in  the  alembic  of  a 
mighty  mind,  are  digested  and  expressed  with  a  distinctness  and 
with  a  severe  simplicity  intelligible  alike  by  the  young  and  the  old, 
by  the  unlettered  and  the  wise.  The  Declaration  of  Independence 

*  Carrington  Memoranda.  Mason  says  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Europe,  pub 
lished  in  the  Historical  Register,  that  the  amendments  rather  injured  than  im 
proved  it. 

f  An  American  edition  of  Burgh  had  appeared  the  year  before,  and  it  was  a 
favorite  book  with  all  our  early  statesmen.  Mr.  Jeiferson  delighted  to  praise  it. 


GEORGE  MASON.  165 

is  mainly  a  detail  of  wrongs  so  sensibly  felt  as  to  justify  a  change 
of  government,  and  therefore  easily  enumerated,  which  required  as 
little  argument  as  research,  and  the  supreme  merit  of  which  is  that 
a  plain  tale,  which,  if  badly  told,  might  have  made  a  slight  impres 
sion  on  the  age,  has  been  adorned  with  all  the  graces  with  which 
genius  could  invest  it.  It  is  not  yn  dispute  whether  Jefferson 
could  have  written  the  Declaration  of  Rights  as  wreli  as  Mason 
did  write  it,  nor  whether  Mason  could  have  written  the  De 
claration  of  Independence  with  the  grace  of  Jefferson.  It  is 
whether  '.he  Declaration  of  Rights,  as  a  work  of  intellect,  is  not  a 
paper  of  a  far  higher  character  than  a  mere  Declaration  of  the  rea 
sons  however  well  put  forth,  which  impelled  the  colonies  to  sepa 
rate  from  the  mother-country,  and  to  assume  independence.  One 
is  the  admirable  work  of  the  political  philosopher  ;  the  other  is  the 
,  chaste  production  of  the  elegant  historian  ;  and,  as  to  perform  a 
noble  act  is  more  glorious  than  to  record  it,  so  is  philosophy  of 
higher  dignity  than  history,  and  the  Declaration  of  Rights  than  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  It  is  the  merit  of  Mason  and  Jeffer 
son  that  both  in  their  respective  spheres  performed  their  office  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  call  forth  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  their 
country  ;  while  it  is  apparent  to  the  reflecting  observer  that  the  no 
ble  qualities  of  mind  and  statesmanship  exhibited  by  Mason  in  the 
Declaration  of  Rights  far  surpass  those  exhibited  by  Jefferson  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.* 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  Archibald  Gary  reported  the  plan 
of  government,  which  was  read  by  the  Clerk  the  first  time,  and  or 
dered  to  be  read  a  second  time.  On  the  twenty-sixth,  it  was  read 
a  second  time,  and  referred  to  the  committee  of  the  whole.  It  was 
discussed  on  the  twenty-seventh,  and  on  the  twenty-eighth  the  plan 
was  renorted  to  the  house  with  amendments  which  were  severally 
concurred  in,  and  the  whole  was  ordered  to  be  transcribed,  and  read  a 
third  time.  And  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  1776,  the  first  consti 
tution  of  Virginia,  which  was  the  first  written  constitution  of  a  sover 
eign  state  known  among  men,t  and  which  was  destined  to  diffuse 

*  A  copy  of  the  original  Declaration  as  presented  to  the  Committee  in  the 
hand-A-riti-i"-  of  Mason  nay  be  seen  neatly  framed  in  the  library  of  Virginia. 


nay 

t  Curtis  in  his  history  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  (Vol.  I,  139) 
has  the  following  sentence:  "The  Student  of  American  constitutional  history, 
therafore,  cannot  fail  to  see,  that  the  adoption  of  ike  first  written  constitution  was 
accomplished  through  great  and  magnanimous  sacrifices."  If  the  term  "  the 
first  written  constitution"  be  understood  in  the  sense  of  the  first  form  of  gov- 


166  GEORGE    MASON. 

prosperity  and  happiness  among  the  people  for  more  than  half  a  cen 
tury,  and  long  after  those  who  framed  it,  with  one  illustrious  excep 
tion,  had  passed  away,  was  adopted  by  an  unanimous  vote.  The 
preamble  was  written  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  transmitted  it  to  Wil- 
liamsburg,  but  the  main  body  of  the  instrument  was  the  work  of 
Mason. 

Unfortunately  the  mode  of  procedure  in  the  select  committee 
which  reported  the  constitution  has  not  come  down  to  us;  but  we 
are  able  to  form  very  definite  and  conclusive  conjectures  upon  the 
subject.  It  would  seem  that  the  modern  method  of  offering  dis 
tinct  propositions  in  the  form  of  resolutions,  as  in  the  Convention 
which  formed  the  federal  constitution  and  in  our  subsequent  Con 
ventions,  had  not  then  been  adopted ;  but  the  general  outline  of  the 
proposed  plan  of  government  was  presented  at  once.  Two  of  these 
schemes  have  reached  us :  the  plan  of  Mr.  Jefferson  which  from 
its  late  presentation  was  not  formally  acted  upon,  and  the  plan  of 
Mason,  which  with  amendments  in  its  details  was  finally  adopted. 
To  show  the  peculiar  merit  of  Mason's  plan,  it  should  be  observed 
that  the  task  of  the  select  committee  was  to  prepare  a  plan  of  gov 
ernment,  and  it  was  quite  within  the  range  of  its  powers  to  have  re 
ported  a  system  nearly  equivalent  to  the  British  constitution.  In 
the  British  government  the  power  of  parliament  is  supreme.  It 
may  limit  the  succession  to  the  crown.  It  may  displace  the  king, 
and  consign  him  to  the  scaffold.  There  is  no  superior  law,  fairly 
recorded  and  exposed  to  view,  which  limits  its  powers,  and  by  a 
reference  to  which  its  acts  may  be  measured.  The  importance  of 
such  a  rule  for  the  ordinary  legislature  was  apparent  to  Mason,  and 
he  was  the  first  to  prescribe  it.  The  three  great  departments  of 
government  were  nominally  distinct  and  independent  in  the  British 
constitution ;  but  it  is  to  the  wisdom  of  Mason  that  we  owe  the  great 
American  principle,  that  the  legislative,  the  most  dangerous  of  all, 
should  be  bound  by  a  rule  as  stringent  as  the  executive  and  the  ju 
dicial.  Nor  does  the  form  of  a  constitution,  as  appears  to  be  a  mat 
ter  of  course  at  the  present  day,  necessarily  imply  such  a  limitation 
of  the  legislative  department.  Even  in  a  republic  the  legislature 

eminent  of  the  United  States,  which  may  be  its  fair  and  proper  meaning,  it  is 
well  enough  ;  but  if  he  meant  to  convey  the  impression  that  the  Articles  of  Con* 
federation,  which  were  not  adopted  until  1781,  were  the  "  first  written  constitu 
tion,"  it  is  plain  that  the  constitution  of  Virginia  preceded  the  Articles  of  Con 
federation  nearly  five  years  in  point  of  time. 


GEORGE  MASON. 

might  still  have  been  supreme.  It  is  therefore  the  peculiar  honor 
of  Mason  that  he  not  only  drafted  the  first  regular  plan  of  govern 
ment  of  a  sovereign  state,  but  circumscribed  the  different  depart-  X 
ments  by  limits  which  they  may  not  transcend.  This  was  the 
second  great  trophy  won  by  the  genius  of  Mason  in  the  Convention 
now  assembled. 

The  day  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  the  Convention  in 
pursuance  of  its  provisions,  proceeded  to  elect  a  Governor  and 
Council,  and  deputed  Mason  at  the  head  of  a  committee  to  inform 
Patrick  Henry  of  his  election  as  chief  magistrate  of  the  Common 
wealth.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  committee  to  draft  the 
oaths  to  be  taken  by  the  Governor  and  Council ;  and  it  is  not  un 
worthy  of  notice,  as  showing  the  confidence  of  the  body  in  his 
judgment  and  abilities,  that  on  purely  legal  subjects  he  was  placed 
at  the  head  of  committees  consisting  of  the  ablest  lawyers. 
That  he  was  subsequently  appointed  a  member  of  the  celebrated 
committee  of  Revisers  is  known  to  all. 

The  last  duty  assigned  him  by  the  Convention  was  to  assist  in 
the  preparation  of  a  seal  for  the  new  Commonwealth.*  Under  the 
regal  government  the  coat  of  arms  of  Virginia  was  one  of  the  most 
imposing  in  the  colonies.  Two  knights  clad  in  armor  supported  a 
shield  on  which  were  quartered  the  emblems  of  England,  Scotland, 
Ireland  and  France ;  and  beneath  the  shield  was  the  honorable 
motto:  En  dat  Virginia  Quartam!  Surmounting  the  shield  was 
the  half  statue  of  Pocahontas. 

The  design  adopted  by  the  committee  was  not  less  fortunate  in 
conception  nor  less  striking  in  execution  than  the  royal  effigy  which 

*  The  Committee  consisted  of  R.  H.  Lee,  Mason,  Nicholas,  and  Wythe. 
Three  designs  appear  from  Girardin  (IV,  Appendix)  to  have  been  before  the 
Committee :  one  from  Dr.  Franklin,  another  from  M.  de  Cimatiere  of  Philadel 
phia,  and  the  one  ultimately  adopted,  which  Girardin,  without  naming  his  au 
thority,  ascribes  to  Mr.  Wythe.  Its  designs  are  taken  from  Spence's  Poly- 
metis.  Mason  reported  the  design  of  the  present  seal  to  the  House,  on  the  eve 
of  the  adjournment.  See  Journal  of  the  Convention  of  May  1776,  page  86. 
As  some  discussion  has  taken  place  in  the  Va.  Historical  Register  about  the 
motto  inscribed  on  the  old  stove, — "En  dat  Virginia  Quartam;"  one  of  the 
writers  contending  that  it  should  have  been  "  En  dat  Virginia  Quintum ,-"  it 
may  be  well  enough  to  say  that  the  last  named  motto  was  the  one  originally 
taken  on  the  settlement  of  Virginia,  and  may  be  found  in  the  early  London  edi 
tions  of  Capt.  John  Smith's  work  and  as  late  as  Beverly;  but  at  a  subsequent 
period  the  first  named  was  substituted  in  its  stead,  and  was  usually  prefixed  to 
the  title  page  of  the  Acts  of  Assembly.  The  acts  for  the  tenth  year  of  George 
the  Third  in  folio,  printed  by  William  Rind,  are  now  before  me,  and  contain  the 
coat  of  arms  with  the  motto  :  En  dat  Virginia  Quartam. 


168  THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

it  was  designed  to  supersede.  The  figure  of  Virtue,  erect  and  tri 
umphant,  resting  on  a  spear  with  one  hand,  and  holding  a  sword  in 
the  other  ;  treading  on  a  tyrant  whose  crown  has  fallen  from  his  head, 
and  in  whose  left  hand  is  a  broken  chain  and  in  the  right  a  scourge; 
with  the  motto:  Sic  semper  Tyrannis;  tells  with  graphic  fidelity  not 
only  the  story  of  our  independence  but  the  simple  majesty  of  the 
men  who  portrayed  it  on  the  standard  of  our  country.  It  was  Mason 
who  reported  to  the  Convention  this  device  for  the  ensign  of  Vir 
ginia,  and  whose  fame  will  ever  float  in  its  folds.  So  long  as  Vir 
ginia  preserves  her  flag  untarnished  and  free,  the  fame  of  Mason  is 
safe.  But  should  her  banner  be  stained  or  ingloriously  lost,  could 
he  speak  from  his  grave,  he  would  be  content  that  his  own  reputa 
tion  should  perish  in  the  ruin  which  was  destined  to  overwhelm  the 
independence  and  honor  of  his  beloved  country. 

The  history  of  Mason  subsequent  to  the  adjournment  of  the  Con 
vention,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Delegates,  as  a  statesman 
consulted  in  his  retirement  by  the  ablest  politicians  on  all  the  great 
est  and  most  delicate  state  and  national  questions  of  the  times,  as  a 
member  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  federal  constitution, 
and  of  the  Virginia  Convention  which  ratified  it,  of  deep  and  sur 
passing  interest  as  it  is,  we  must  postpone  for  another  occasion.* 

If  George  Mason  was  the  Michael  Angelo  who  laid  the  foundations 
and  prescribed  the  proportions  of  the  new  government,  THOMAS 
JEFFERSON  was  the  Raphael  who  imparted  to  it  its  peculiar  grace 
and  effect.  If  Mason  drafted  the  Declaration  of  Rights  and  the  plan 
of  government,  it  was  Jefferson  who  devised  those  measures  which 
were  most  effectual  in  imparting  vigor  and  practicability  to  the  new 
system.  No  mistake  is  more  common  than  to  underrate  the  value 
of  an  improvement  in  science  or  in  the  arts  from  its  apparent  sim 
plicity,  and  from  its  obvious  adaptedness  to  our  present  purposes. 
The  printer's  boy,  who  sees  his  types  arranged  in  their  cases  or 
scattered  over  the  floor,  can  scarcely  believe  that  those  moveable 
pieces  of  lead  which  seem  so  simple  as  to  require  no  skill  in  the 
making,  were  one  of  the  most  remarkable  inventions  of  human  ge 
nius.  The  youthful  gunner,  who  has  heard  that  gunpowder  is  made 
at  a  common  factory  out  of  three  simple  ingredients,  rarely  reflects 
that  its  invention  wrought  one  of  the  most  marked  revolutions  re- 

*  For  the  Discourse  on  the  Virginia  Federal  Convention. 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  169 

. 

corded  in  history.     So  in  contemplating  the  measures  proposed  by 
Jefferson  during  the  first  session  of  the  General  Assembly  and  sub 
sequently,  such  is  their  obvious  harmony  with  a  republican  system, 
we  are  apt  tc  regard  them  as  matters  of  course,  and  the  irn mediate 
and  inevitable  result  of  the  new  order  of  things.     Yet  nothing  would 
be  more  untrue,  or  more  injurious  to  the  reputation  to  which  every 
benefactor  of  his  race  is  entitled,  than  such  an  opinion.     Primoge 
niture,  entails,  the  connection  of  the  church  with  the  state,  so  far 
from  exciting  unpleasant  feelings  in  the  breasts  of  a  large,  intelli- 
ligent,  and  wealthy  class  of  people,  who  held  the  control  of  the 
public  councils,  had  been  a  portion  of  the  inherited  public  opinion 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  for  at  least  a  thousand  years.     Nor  was 
there   anything  in  either  absolutely  incompatible  with  a  republican 
form  of  government.     Any  man  of  a  weak  head  and  a  base  heart 
may  still,  if  he  pleases,  bequeath  all  his  property  to  his  eldest  son, 
majr  cut  off  the  rest  of  his  children  with  a  penny,  and  may  by  legal 
contrivances  transmit  his  property  in  a  descending  line  for  a  certain 
period ;   and  the  custom  still  exists  in  some  of  the  New  England 
States  of  laying  taxes  for  the  support  of  religion.     That  property 
should  be  free  to  be  disposed  of  by  the  generation  which  holds  and 
protects  it,  and  that  the  children  of  common  parents  should  share  the 
common  property,  and  that  every  man  should  be  at  liberty  to  support 
any  system  of  public  worship  most  acceptable  to  him,  or  none  at 
all,  arc  principles  which  have  taken   such  deep  root  as  to  seem  a 
part  of  the  general  mind,  the  instinct  of  our  common  nature,  and 
the  necessary  and  the  inseparable  concomitants  of  a  republican  form 
of  government.     It  is  to  Jefferson  that  these  popular  amendments 
of  our  colonial  policy  are  due.     Some  of  the  ablest  and  purest  men 
of  the  Revolution,  who  had  been  among  the  first  to  risk  their  lives 
and  fortunes  in  the  cause,  adhered  to  the  old  opinions,  and  fought 
so  gallantly  in  their  defence,  that,  notwithstanding  the  sixteenth 
section  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  the  act  for  establishing  reli 
gious  freedom  did  not  become  a  lav;  until  nine  years  after  the  decla 
ration   of  independence.     In  these   contests  Mason  and  Jefferson 
stood  side  by  side.     In  the  decline  of  his  long  and  honored  life,  re 
calling  the  struggles  of  this  period,  Jefferson,  with  that  modesty 
peculiar  to  great  minds,  thus  speaks  of  Mason :  "  I  had  many  occa 
sional  and  strenuous  coadjutors  in  debate;  and  one  most  steadfast, 
able  and  zealous  ;  who  was  himself  a  host.     This  was  George  Ma- 


1*70  THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

• 

son,  a  man  of  the  first  order  of  wisdom  among  those  who  acted  on 
the  theatre  of  the  Revolution,  of  expansive  mind,  profound  judg 
ment,  cogent  in  argument,  learned  in  the  lore  of  our  former  consti 
tution,  and  earnest  for  the  republican  change  on  democratic  princi 
ples.  His  elocution  wes  neither  flowing  nor  smooth ;  but  his  lan 
guage  was  strong,  his  manner  most  impressive,  and  strengthened  by 
a  dash  of  biting  cynicism,  when  provocation  made  it  seasonable." 

One  lesson  that  well  deserves  attention  may  be  drawn  from  this 
subject.  The  three  principal  measures  of  reform  proposed  by  Jef 
ferson  were  designed  to  effect  immediately  the  most  radical  change 
ever  made  in  so  short  a  time  in  the  institutions  of  any  people.  Be 
side  such  an  innovation  the  dissolution  of  the  tie  which  bound  the 
colonies  to  the  mother  country  seemed  comparatively  trifling.  That 
tie  was  in  a  certain  sense  rather  theoretical  than  practical.  The 
colony  always  enacted  its  own  laws,  and  though  the  assent  of 
the  king  was  necessary  to  their  validity,  that  assent  on  most  sub 
jects  followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  the  laws  of  primogeni 
ture,  of  entails,  and  of  an  established  church,  were  so  intimately 
interwoven  with  the  existing  polity,  that  it  would  seem  a  priori  im 
possible  to  have  assailed  them  with  success.  But  the  bold  and 
decisive  statesmanship  of  Jefferson  did  not  hesitate  for  an  instant. 

*  Jefferson's  Works,  I,  33.  Garland  in  his  life  of  Randolph  (I,  19)  quotes  as 
from  John  Randolph  a  sentiment  deprecating;  the  alteration  of  the  old  law  by  the 
Virginia  statute  of  descents:  "Well  might  old  George  Mason  say  that  the  an- 
thors  of  that  law,  (Pendleton,  Wythe,  and  Jefferson)  never  had  a  son."  That 
Randolph  did  make  such  a  remark  I  have  reason  to  believe  from  evidence  in  my 
possession,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  George  Mason  never  uttered  such  a  senti 
ment.  In  the  the  first  place,  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Jefferson  (Vol.  I,  35,)  that, 
with  the  exception  of  Pendleton,  the  Revisors  agreed  on  the  principles  of  the 
law  of  descents;  secondly,  in  the  sketch  of  Mason  by  Jefferson  quoted  in  the 
text,  Mason  is  said  to  have  been  "  earnest  for  the  republican  change  on  demo 
cratic  principles  ;"  which  could  not  be  said  of  an  advocate  of  primogeniture  and 
entails  ;  thirdly,  if  Mason  had  made  such  a  remark,  he  would  not  have  included 
Pendleton,  who  warmly  opposed  the  change  in  the  committee  of  Revisors  and  in 
the  House  of  Delegates.  But  in  truth  the  remark  could  not  have  been  made  by 
Mason  ;  for  when  Jefferson  reported  the  draft,  he  was  not  more  than  thirty-four 
or  five  years  of  age,  and  had  married  a  short  time  before  a  lady  seven  or  eight 
years  younger  than  himself,  by  whom  he  had  several  children,  though,  as  she 
died  early,  he  had  no  son.  But  Jefferson  was  still  young,  and  mi^ht  have  mar 
ried  again,  and  have  had  a  large  family  after  the  death  of  Mason  in  1792.  The 
probability  is  that  the  fact  that  neither  Pendleton,  Wythe,  nor  Jefferson,  had  a 
son,  gave  rise  to  the  remark,  which  is  probably  the  product  of  the  present  cen 
tury,  and  which  was  fathered  upon  Mason  who  could  not  have  made  it. 

As  Mason  was  attached  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  was  a  member  of  the 
vestry  of  Truro  parish,  it  has  been  thought  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  discon 
nection  of  the  church  from  the  state ;  but  not  only  does  the  remark  of  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  quoted  above  disprove  any  such  thing,  but  the  sixteenth  section  of  the 
bill  of  rights  settles  the  question  under  his  own  hand. 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

He  appeared  to  survey  the  whole  ground  before  him  not  so  much 
with  the  eye  of  a  contemporary  actor,  as  with  the  eye  of  the 
representative  of  a  distant  posterity.  That  a  comparatively  young 
man  should  have  had  the  wisdom  to  suggest,  and  the  moral  cour 
age  to  sustain,  a  series  of  measures  so  opposed  to  existing  preju 
dices,  and  so  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  that  in  the  long  interval 
of  near  eighty  years  we  cannot  see  wherein  they  might  have 
been  improved  or  altered  to  advantage,  and  that  such  a  policy  was 
the  result  of  his  own  reflections  unaided  by  the  example  of  the 
past,  is  not  the  least  wonder  of  that  wondrous  age. 

Jefferson,  who  was  deputed  to  Congress,  though  a  member  of 
the  present  Convention,  did  not"  take  his  seat  in  the  body. 
Yet  his  name  is  forever  associated  with  the  result  of  its  labors. 
The  preamble  to  the  constitution  was  from  his  pen.  And  it  is  not 
our  purpose  to  trace  his  course  at  length.  His  education  at  this 
College,  his  tutelage  under  the  eye  of  Wythe,  his  course  in  the  Gen 
eral  Congress,  his  course  as  the  second  chief  magistrate  of  this 
Commonwealth,  his  mission  to  France,  his  course  in  the  federal 
government  as  Secretary  of  State,  as  Vice  President,  and  as  Presi 
dent,  his  useful  services  as  the  founder  and  patron  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Virginia,  that  child  of  his  old  age  and  the  delight  of  his 
eyes,  have  been  fully  recorded.  In  the  Congress  of  1776  the  de 
claration  of  independence  has  made  his  name  immortal.  At  a 
later  period  in  the  same  body,  with  that  perspicacity  which  seemed 
rather  the  result  of  inspiration  than  of  deliberate  calculation  which 
it  assuredly  was,  he  devised  the  currency  of  dollars  and  cents ; — 
a  system  so  simple  as  to  bear  away  the  palm  from  schemes  sanc 
tioned  by  the  highest  names  which  were  brought  in  competition 
with  it,  and  so  perfect  as  in  the  lapse  of  seventy  years  to  need  no 
amendment.  In  whatever  position  he  was  placed,  he  seemed  to 
have  been  made  for  that  alone.  At  the  brilliant  court  of  Louis  the 
Sixteenth,  his  modesty  which  was  shown  in  answer  to  the  ques 
tion  whether  he  filled  the  place  of  Franklin,*  the  elegance  of  his 
manners,  his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  interests  of  his  country, 
his  honesty  and  sincerity  in  diplomatic  affairs,  which  were  in 
stantly  seen  and  appreciated,  his  love  of  science  and  letters  which 
placed  him  in  communion  with  the  publicists  and  scholars  who 

*  "No  one  can  fill  hk  place,  I  am  his  successor." 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

were  then  preparing  the  public  mind  for  the  great  event  which 
overcast  the  age,  and,  with  all  his  ardor  in  the  cause  of  liberty 
and  letters,  keeping  steadily  inside  the  strict  line  cf  diplomatic  re 
serve,  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  king  and  of  the  French 
nation.  He  was  quite  as  successful  in  the  cabinet  as  the  first 
Secretary  of  State  under  the  federal  government.  Brilliant  and 
rapid  in  his  conceptions,  he  was  as  conspicuous  for  the  severe  and 
protracted  labor  which  he  underwent  in  the  preparation  of  elabo 
rate  commercial  reports  as  he  was  for  the  ability  and  eloquence  of 
his  strictly  diplomatic  correspondence.  Of  his  career  as  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak  in  detail. 
It  may  be  said,  however,  as  it  was  the  chief  ambition  of  the  states 
men  of  old,  so  it  was  his  peculiar  glory,  to  give  a  magnificent  em 
pire  to  his  country ;  and  that,  in  a  complication  of  embarrassments 
in  which  the  troubled  state  of  Europe  involved  him,  and  from 
which  he  could  not  have  disengaged  himself  either  by  what  he  did 
or  by  what  he  failed  to  do,  he  enjoyed  to  the  close  of  his  term  in 
as  great  a  degree  as  had  been  enjoyed  before,  or  has  been  enjoyed 
since,  the  confidence  and  the  affections  of  the  people. 

His  tastes  and  amusements  were  made  subservient  to  the  inter 
ests  of  his  country.  It  is  mainly  owing  to  his  timely  research  and 
provident  care  that  our  Statutes  at  Large  have  been  preserved  in 
their  present  condition.  No  fact  relating  to  our  history  and  laws, 
to  our  manners  and  customs,  to  our  soil,  whether  in  regard  of  the 
forests  which  grow  upon  its  surface,  or  of  the  animals  which  ranged 
through  those  forests  or  nestled  in  their  branches,  or  lie  buried  be 
neath  them  ;  or  its  minerals,  or  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth 
of  its  rivers,  or  of  the  changes  of  the  temperature  and  the  course 
of  the  winds,  escaped  his  notice  in  early  life  as  in  mature  age. 
When  the  date  of  preparation  and  the  degree  of  accessible  infor 
mation  on  its  topics  are  considered,  no  light  production  of  that  day 
indicated  greater  habitual  industry  than  the  Notes  en  Virginia. 
The  force  and  freedom  and  occasional  beauty  of  its  style,  the 
originality  cf  its  views  in  politics,  in  law,  and  in  physical  science, 
and  the  fearlessness  with  which  he  exhibited  them,  aro  brrdly  less 
admirable  than  the  extensive  research  which  appears  on  almost 
every  page.  His  industry  and  judgment  in  the  preservation  of 
the  materials  of  history  were  equalled  only  by  the  liberality  with 
which  he  dispensed  them.  He  was  consulted  on  almost  every 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  1*73 

topic  of  American  history,  of  science,  and  of  religion  in  its  con 
nection  with  the  common  law,  and  he  not  only  wrote  well  on  every 
question  presented  !<o  him,  but  freely  opened  his  stores  to  the  re 
searches  of  others.  Without  his  aid  Girardia  could  not  have 
written  his  history.  Eurk  and  V/irt  are  deeply  indebted  to  him. 
The  removal  of  his  collections  to  Washington  was  an  irreparable 
loss  to  Virginia,  and  regret  for  their  removal  Is  more  bitter  since  their 
recent  destruction  by  fire  in  the  Capitol.  There  was  an  universality 
in  his  tastes  quite  uncommon  among  men  whose  fame  is  political. 
He  leaned  to  the  sciences  more  than  to  literature ;  yet  he  was 
versed  in  the  English  classics,  and  had  studied  the  Latin,  the 
Greek,  the  French,  the  Spanish,  the  Italian,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
His  domestic  tastes  were  of  a  practical  turn.  He  superintended 
at  home  the  construction  of  his  own  wood  and  iron  work,  often 
wrought  in  the  shop  with  his  own  hands,  and,  like  Washington, 
had  invented  a  plough  of  his  own,  which  obtained  a  premium  in 
Paris.  He  had  a  love  of  architecture,  and  a  fine  sense  of  beauty, 
as  his  own  mansion  and  the  buildings  of  the  University  show,  and, 
if  it  be  urged  that  in  those  structures  usefulness  is  in  some  degree 
sacrificed  for  beauty,  and  that  they  are  better  suited  to  the  French 
than  the  English  notion  of  domestic  comfort,  their  design  must  be 
conceded  to  be  altogether  classical  and  elegant.  He  noted  to  the 
last  the  changes  of  temperature  and  the  course  of  winds,  and  made 
experiments  in  physics.  And  in  his  life  and  conversation  it  were 
difficult  to  say  whether  the  practical  philosopher  or  the  politician 
held  the  sway. 

His  eminent  qualities  were  set  off  by  a  graceful  and  imposing 
person.  His  height  exceeded  six  feet;  his  form  was  spare;  his 
step  even  in  old  age  light  and  springy  ;  his  hair  was  inclined  to 
red.  His  eyes  were  blue,  and  had  a  most  benignant  expression. 
His  head,  which  would  seem  to  be  large  in  the  portrait  by  Stuart, 
was  by  measurement  really  small.  In  conversation  all  his  features 
were  most  expressive.  Posterity  will  probably  receive  the  most 
life-like  impression  of  his  face  and  form  from  the  statue  by  Gait, 
whose  chisel 

"  Gives  more  than  female  beauty  to  a  stone, 
And  Chatham'3  eloquence  to  marble  lips."* 

*  Had  the  author  of  the  Task  seen  the  exquisite  smile  that  plays  on  the  lips 
of  the  Bacchante  of  Gait,  or  the  sweet,  pensive,  spiritual  face  of  his  Psyche, 


1*74  THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

In  his  address  he  was  hardly  equalled  by  any  of  his  contempora 
ries.  His  manners,  which  were  originally  moulded  in  the  society  of 
Williamsburg  when  Wythe  and* Small  and  Fauquier  were  its  bril 
liant  ornaments,  and  which  were  chastened  by  long  experience  in 
the  most  elegant  circles  of  France  and  America,  were  so  simple 
and  retiring,  so  refined  yet  so  cordial,  that  indifference  was  quick 
ened  into  love,  and  strong  political  prejudices  have  been  known  to 
melt  away  in  a  personal  interview  with  him.  Like  his  preceptor 
Wythe,  he  was  through  life  strictly  temperate  in  his  diet,  and  never 
indulged  in  those  vinous  excesses  which  were  too  common  in  the 
colony  and  in  the  early  days  of  the  Commonwealth.  He  never 
lost  his  teeth.  He  used  the  cold  bath  daily,  and  recommended  the 
practice  to  his  friends  as  a  specific  against  colds.  He  retained  his 
erect  carriage  to  the  last. 

Jefferson,  if  we  may  so  speak,  was  born  a  reformer.  He  shrunk 
from  no  change  which  seemed  desirable  in  his  eyes.  He  regarded 
every  question  in  politics,  in  morals,  and  in  religion,  as  an  open 
question,  deriving  no  sanctity  from  time  or  association,  and  to  be 
decided  on  its  intrinsic  merits.  Before  the  Revolution  he  had 
sought  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  he  denounced  that 
infamous  traffic  in  such  severe  terms  in  the  original  draft  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  that  Northern  and  Southern  men 
alike  united  in  striking  those  passages  from  that  paper.*  No  man 

or  the  manly  face  of  his  Columbus,  such  as  he  was  when  on  the  deck  of  his 
ship  he  first  hailed  the  shores  of  the  New  World,  his  noble  features  even  in  the 
flush  of  triumph  bearing  a  cast  of  coming  sadness,  he  would  have  divided 
with  the  young  Virginia  sculptor  the  praise  which  he  has  so  generously  awarded 
to  Bacon.  The  bust  only  of  Jefferson  in  plaster  is  thus  far  finished  by 
Gait,  and  will  ere  long  be  taken  to  Italy  to  be  put  in  marble.  The  face  of 
the  bust  is  said  to  be  a  capital  likeness  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  •  There  is  something 
highly  gratifying  to  our  Virginia  pride  that  the  head  of  such  a  man  as  Jefferson 
should  present  its  fairest  representation  to  futurity  through  the  genius  of  a  Vir 
ginian. 

*  In  allusion  to  the  striking  out  that  part  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
relating  to  the  slave  trade,  Curtis  in  his  History  of  the  Constitution  (vol.  I,  88,) 
observes :  "  But  this  was  not  one  of  the  grievances  to  be  redressed  by  the 
Revolution  ;  it  did  not  constitute  one  of  the  reasons  for  aiming  at  indepen 
dence  ;  and  there  was  no  sufficient  ground  for  the  accusation  that  the  govern 
ment  of  Great  Britain  had  knowingly  sought  to  excite  general  insurrection 
among  the  slaves.  The  rejection  of  this  passage  from  the  Declaration  shows 
that  the  Congress  did  not  consider  this  charge  to  be  as  tenable  as  all  their  other 
complaints  certainly  were." 

If  Mr.  Curtis  will  turn  to  the  records  of  Virginia,  he  will  find  that  this 
charge  against  the  British  king  is  fully  sustained.  The  act  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  seeking  to  put  an  end  to  the  traffic,  and  the  proclamation  of  Dun- 
more  of  Nov.  7th,  1775,  summoning  all  persons  capable  of  bearing  arms  to  his 
standard,  and  offering  freedom  to  all  slaves  who  should  join  him,  and  whom  he 


THOMAS     JEFFERSON.  175 

living  save  himself  would  have  dared  to  grapple  at  one  and  the 
same  time  with  the  laws  of  primogeniture,  of  entails,  and  of  an 
established  church,  and  to  seek  their  instant  and  unconditional 
overthrow.  Boldness  in  this  instance  was  the  height  of  wisdom. 
Had  he  postponed  his  assaults  until  the  filaments  of  prejudice, 
which  had  been  broken  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  had 
begun  to  re-unite,  nothing  short  of  a  new  revolution  could  have  rent 
them  asunder.  Nor  did  he  desire  novelty  for  the  sake  of  novelty. 
When  Pendleton  leaned  to  the  codification  of  the  common  law, 
the  practical  sense  of  Jefferson  opposed  the  scheme  at  the  onset. 
He  may  seem  in  our  day  to  have  erred  in  some  of  his  views ;  but, 
as,  like  all  great  reformers,  he  was  ahead  of  public  opinion  on  some 
topics,  and  appealed  to  the  future  as  well  as  to  the  present,  candor 
might  teach  us  to  await  the  forthcoming  award  ere  we  arraign  his 
wisdom.  As  a  politician  in  that  sense  of  the  term  which  consists 
in  guiding  and  controlling  public  opinion,  though  ridiculed  in  his 
day  as  a  philosopher,  he  was  unsurpassed  in  ancient  or  in  modern 
times.  He  seemed  to  have  sprung  into  existence,  like  Minerva 
from  the  brain  of  Jove,  full-grown  and  well-armed.  He  seemed  to 
have  passed  through  no  noviciate.  From  the  day  on  which  he 
drafted  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  his  report  in  reply  to  the  propo 
sitions  of  Lord  North  to  the  day  when  from  his  mountain  home  he 
saw  the  turrets  of  the  University  glistening  in  the  morning  sun,  he 
never  lost  his  control  over  the  public  opinion  of  his  age.  If  it  be 
urged  that  in  the  cabinet  of  Washington  his  star  waned  before  that 
of  Hamilton — and  for  the  sake  of  illustration  we  concede  as  a  fact 
that  which,  when  properly  considered,  is  no  fact  at  all — it  was  a 
momentary  obscuration  rather  apparent  than  real — under  a  concen 
tration  of  forces  which  would  have  driven  from  its  sphere  any 
other  political  luminary  then  in  the  firmament.  Had  Jefferson  not 
existed  or  been  other  than  he  was,  the  policy  which  sought  the 
protection  of  the  venerated  name  of  Washington,  would  have 

instantly  armed,  settle  the  question  at  once.  The  present  Convention  in  the 
preamble  to  the  Constitution  first  brought  the  subject  forward,  as  Virginia  was 
the  first  to  suffer,  in  these  words :  "By  prompting  our  negroes  to  rise  in  arms  among 
us,  those  very  negroes,  whom  by  an  inhuman  use  of  his  negative,  he  had  refused  us 
permission  to  exclude  by  law."  As  stated  in  a  preceding  note  the  leading 
statesmen  of  Virginia  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  were  opposed  to  slavery 
and  were  anxious  at  least  to  put  an  end  to  the  introduction  of  negroes  from 
Africa ;  but  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  were  not  disposed  to  abolish  the  traffic, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  commercial  and  navigating  interests  of  New 
England  were  equally  averse  from  such  a  measure. 


176  THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

descended  for  generations.  The  wonder  is,  not  that  he  failed  for  a 
time  to  make  head  against  an  accidental  majority  in  Congress 
which  was  sustained  by  the  commercial  and  monetary  interests  of 
the  country,  and  by  that  band  of  upright  and  honorable  men  who 
were  deluded  to  believe  thai  the  zeal  with  \vhich  they  might  uphold 
that  policy  was  the  surest  test  of  the  unbounded  affection  which 
they  cherished  for  the  Father  of  his  Country;  but  that  in  s,  con 
test  with  such  odds  pressing  upon  him,  he  was  able  in  GO  short  a 
time  to  separate  that  powerful  party  into  so  many  fragments  that  a 
corporal's  guard  could  scarcely  be  mustered  against  him.  It  has 
been  fashionabls  of  late  in  certain  quarters  to  give  Hamilton  the 
precedence  en  the  score  of  abilities  over  Jefferson.  Far  be  it  from 
us  to  dstract  from  the  merits  of  that  illustrious  man,  whose  valor 
won  its  latest  and  brightest  triumph  on  the  soil  of  this  Common 
wealth,  who  was  the  oracle  of  the  forum  and  the  ornament  of  the 
cabinet  as  he  was  the  pride  of  war,  and  who  in  the  vigor  of  life 
amid  the  tears  of  a  nation  went  down  to  a  bloody  grave  ;  but  con 
ceding  to  his  civic  merits  the  meed  of  high  applause,  we  must  still 
contend  that  those  merits  did  not  reach  the  standard  of  Jefferson. 
Perhaps  the  individual  best  qualified  to  decide  on  the  respective 
abilities  of  these  two  eminent  men  was  James  Madison.  He  had 
followed  Hamilton  step  by  step  from  the  beginning  of  his  career  to 
its  untimely  close,  and  he  had  viewed  him  in  the  double  aspect  of 
a  political  friend  and  a  political  opponent.  In  the  decline  of  life, 
when  the  fires  of  party,  if  indeed  they  ever  raged  in  that  gentle 
breast,  had  burned  out,  he  affirmed  that  it  would  take  more  than 
one  Hamilton  to  make  a  Jefferson.  As  politicians,  in  the  sense  of 
ruling  the  affections  and  the  will  of  the  people,  there  is  hardly 
ground  for  comparison  between  men,  one  of  whom  was  the 
successful  champion  of  a  great  party  reared  mainly  under  his 
auspices,  and  the  influence  of  which  is  felt  to  this  hour,  and  the 
other  of  whom,  though  the  accredited  heir  of  the  popularity  of  the 
purest  name  in  human  history,  could  not  secure  the  State  in  which 
he  lived  from  the  grasp  of  his  foe,  and  in  his  short  life  saw  not  only 
the  extinction  of  the  party  to  which  he  belonged,  but  ths  very 
name  of  that  party  held  in  disrepute  and  openly  disavowed.  Nor 
is  the  comparison  between  these  eminent  men  more  favorable  to 
Hamilton,  when  regarded  in  the  light  of  the  master-spirits  of  a 
great  era.  Hamilton  was  eminently  conservative.  He  had  but 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  1*7 7 

little  faith  in  the  capacity  of  the  people  for  self-government.  He 
honestly  believed  that  the  British  system  was  the  wisest  of  human 
polities  ;  and  though  determined  at  every  hazard  to  give  the  new 
system  a  fair  trial,  he  could  not  conceal  from  himself  nor  from 
others  the  belief  that  the  country  might  yet  be  compelled  to  fall 
back  upon  the  British  model.  In  en  old  established  system  he 
would  have  been  at  home.  There  his  peculiar  genius  would  have 
reigned  supreme.  As  the  colleague  of  the  younger  Pitt,  whether  in 
the  field,  in  the  cabinet,  or  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
he  would  have  proved  the  ablest  lieutenant  that  ever  ranged  under 
the  banner  of  party.  But  as  the  guide  of  a  people  resolved  to  shed 
the  slough  of  monarchy,  and  to  establish  popular  institutions,  he 
was  measurably,  and,  in  a  certain  sense,  out  of  place.  And  that 
place  was  the  place  of  Jefferson.  With  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  came  the  establishment  of  the  Virginia  Constitution  ;  and 
while  the  fires  of  the  Revolution  were  laying  waste  the  land,  Jeffer 
son  planned  and  carried  into  immediate  effect  the  leading  measures 
necessary  to  sustain  a  republican  system  as  deliberately  as  he  could 
have  done  in  a  time  of  profound  peace.  He  never  looked  back. 
He  never  despaired  of  the  republic.  He  believed,  and  always 
through  life  acted  on  the  belief,  that  the  people  were  wise  and 
honest  enough  to  uphold  those  institutions  which  were  obviously 
designed  for  their  benefit,  and  which  were  the  work  of  their  own 
hands.  As  a  Statesman,  the  career  of  Jefferson  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  in  the  General  Congress,  in  the  House  of  Delegates  and 
as  Secretary  of  State,  has  received  the  commendation  of  all  impar 
tial  persons  who  have  watched  it  closely.  It  is  not  unusual,  how 
ever,  to  sneer  at  the  policy  which  he  was  compelled  to  adopt, 
during  his  administration  of  the  federal  government,  in  relation  to 
our  foreign  affairs.  Non-intercourse  and  embargo  are  with  many, 
even  at  this  day,  the  synonyms  of  fear  and  folly.  This  is  not  the 
place,  at  the  close  of  a  discourse  already  extended  beyond  its 
prescribed  limits,  to  discuss  those  subjects  in  detail;  but  a  defer 
ence  to  a  common  prejudice  requires  a  passing  remark.  It  may  be 
observed  that  nothing  is  more  unjust  than  to  condemn  measures  of 
policy  from  considerations  which  are  the  result  of  subsequent 
developments.  And  judging  by  these  developments,  it  may  be 
affirmed,  perhaps,  that  the  wisest  course  which  Jefferson  ought  to 
have  adopted  in  the  beginning  of  our  commercial  troubles  with 
12 


178  THOMAS     JEFFERSON. 

France  and  England  would  have  been  to  declare  war   with   both 
nations.     But  Jefferson  had  to  deal  with  the  present  and  not  with 
the  future.     The   continent  of  Europe   was  involved  in  a  war  of 
life  and  death.     It   was  a  contest   for   national  existence,    and    in 
comparison  with  which  the  present  European  embroilment  is  but 
the  play  of  the  nursery.     In  the  course  of  the  struggle  France  had 
become   the    unprincipled    bandit   of  the   land,    and    England    the 
ruthless  robber  of  the  sea.     The  laws  of  nations  were  set  at  naught 
equally  by  both  belligerents.     To  protect  our  commerce   from   the 
hostile  powers  was   impossible.     If  our   ships   touched   the   British 
coast  they  were  forfeitable   to   France  ;  if  they   touched  a  French 
port,  they  were  forfeitable  to  England.    Our  sailors,  born  on  that  soil 
which  had  been  made  free  by  the  valor  of  their  fathers,  were  seized 
on  the  decks  of  their  ships,  and  were  transferred  by  thousands  to 
British   men-of-war   in    which    they   were    compelled  to  fight  the 
battles  of  England,  or  to  be  torn  by  the  lash.     Even  at  this  distance 
of  time  the  indignation  of  every  American  glows  so  fiercely  when 
he    contemplates   the    injuries    which   were   then   inflicted    on    his 
unoffending   and  defenceless   country,  that  he  is  hardly  willing  to 
allow   that    any    statute    of    limitations   should    bar    his   right   of 
vengeance.     War  with  both  nations   was,   indeed,  justifiable ;  but 
war  in  our  defenceless  state,   besides  other  inconveniences   which 
would  grow  out  of  it,   would   give   England   the   right  to  persist  in 
conduct  which  in  time  of  peace  was   an  outrage  on  neutral  rights, 
and  for  the   redress    of  which   she   was    amenable   to  the  laws  of 
nations;  and  in  so  far  as  keeping  our  ships  at  home  was  concerned^ 
and  which  constituted   the   leading   objection  to  the  policy  adopted 
by  the  president,  war  was  the  most  effectual   act  of  non-intercourse 
and  embargo  that  could  be  desired.     But  the  very  violence  of  the 
contest  which  devastated  Europe  was  in  the  estimation  of  reflecting 
men  a  presage  of  its  cessation  at  no  distant  period,  when  the  sense 
of  justice  of  the   contending   parties    might   be    appealed  to  with 
success.    To  go  to  war  was  to  take  redress  in  our  own  hands ;  and  was, 
without  gaining  any  essential  benefit,   to  wipe   off  all  our  accounts 
with  the  offending  parties.     A  measure  which  would  at  once  enable 
us  to  save  our  ships,  and  leave  us  free  to  avail  ourselves  of  the 
chapter  of  accidents  which  might  open  favorably  at  any  moment^ 
seemed  to  be  the  most  plausible  means  of  relief;  and  in  this  view 
non-intercourse  and  an  embargo  were  successively  adopted.     And 


THOMAS     JEFFERSON.  1*79 

when  war  was  ultimately  declared  by  Madison,  it  was  ascertained 
that  if  the  declaration  of  it  had  been  postponed  a  few  weeks  longer 
the  obnoxious  orders  in  council  would  have  been  rescinded,  and  the 
means  of  redress  would  have  been  within  our  reach.  When  we 
estimate  the  number  of  lives  which  were  sacrificed  by  the  war,  the 
millions  of  treasure  expended  in  its  prosecution,  and,  beside  other 
calamitous  results,  the  sacrifice  of  all  claim  for  the  remuneration 
of  previous  wrongs,  of  which  war  was  the  consequence,  we  cannot 
but  respect  the  policy  of  Jefferson  which  postponed  an  appeal  to 
arms.  We  may  truly  deplore  the  embarrassments  in  our  foreign 
affairs  which  cramped  his  administration,  arid  we  may  look  forward 
with  conscious  pride  to  the  time  when  we  may  be  able  to  punish 
similar  wrongs  even  though  inflicted  by  the  combined  navies  of  the 
world;  but  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the  wit  of  man  could 
have  devised  in  the  existing  state  of  the  country  more  effectual 
measures  of  relief  than  those  which  were  proposed  by  him  and 
which  were  approved  by  the  party  of  which  he  was  the  chief. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  he  was  a  lover  of  popularity,  and  shaped 
his  measures  to  please  the  people.  If  the  meaning  of  this  charge 
be  that  he  cherished  the  good  will  of  those  in  whose  service  his  life 

o 

was  spent,  such  was  doubtless  the  case.  To  be  loved  by  the  people 
among  whom  our  lot  is  cast,  to  be  revered  as  a  benefactor  of  our 
race,  is  indeed  a  noble  ambition ;  and  this  ambition  Jefferson 
felt  in  its  greatest  extent.  But  if  it  be  alledged  that  his  great 
measures  were  designed  not  with  large  general  views  but  with  the 
object  of  acquiring  popularity  as  a  means  of  rising  into  power,  no 
accusation  can  be  more  untrue.  He  was  of  all  his  contemporaries 
the  most  uncalculating  as  to  the  effect  of  measures  upon  his  own 
personal  interests.  And  this,  we  should  say,  was  the  distinctive 
trait  of  his  character.  A  reformer  is  rarely  a  hunter  after  pop 
ular  favor.  He  planned  with  deliberation  his  measures,  and  he 
brought  them  forth,  utterly  regardless  of  consequences.  The  idol 
of  the  people,  he  was,  in  no  sense  and  at  no  time,  a  time-server  or 
a  self-seeker.  The  great  measures  with  which  he  connected  him 
self  in  early  life  were  almost  invariably  ahead  of  public  sentiment: 
and,  opposed  as  they  were  by  men  who  had  for  years  controlled 
public  opinion,  were  more  apt  to  retard  than  advance  the  progress 
of  a  politician.  They  were  calculated  to  array,  and  did  array,  the 
wealth,  the  talents,  and  the  prejudices  political  and  religious  of  a 


]  80  THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

powerful  class  and  a  ruling  caste  against  him.  The  man  who  could 
rise  in  a  body  composed  mainly  of  tobacco-planters  and  slave 
holders  who  had  inherited  their  estates  and  who  wished  to  transmit 
them  to  posterity,  and  of  the  friends  of  the  church,  and  demand  an 
instantaneous  and  unqualified  repeal  of  the  laws  of  primogeniture 
and  entails,  and  the  separation  of  the  church  from  the  state,  and 
who  held  in  his  hand  a  resolution  to  abolish  slavery,  might  be 
denounced  as  a  mad-cap  or  an  enthusiast,  but  could  not  be  regarded 
by  any  man  who  heard  him  state  his  propositions  as  a  candidate  for 
present  popularity.  A  tobacco-planter  would  not  have  purchased 
popularity  at  such  a  price,  even  if  he  had  been  sure  of  his  bargain. 
The  truth  is  that,  so  far  from  catering  for  public  favor  by  his  great 
measures  of  reform,  he  may  be  said,  although  they  became  ulti 
mately  popular,  never  to  have  entirely  recovered  from  their  support. 
They  were  such  as  were  not  likely  to  be  forgotten,  and  were  never 
forgiven.  They  inflicted  a  wound  which  no  medicaments  could 
heal.  They  evoked  passions  which  time  could  not  appease,  which 
tracked  him  through  life,  and  which  gloated  above  his  grave.  It 
was  the  merit  of  Jefferson  that  he  pressed  his  measures,  however 
unpopular  for  a  season,  in  the  hope  that  in  the  process  of  time  their 
worth  would  be  acknowledged.  And  it  is  most  honorable  to  the 
people,  as  it  must  have  been  most  grateful  to  him,  that,  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  their  affections  followed  rather  than  "preceded  the 
adoption  of  his  most  important  schemes  of  legislation  and  reform. 
The  peculiarities  of  his  mind  and  character  may  be  traced  in  his 
style.  Its  essential  merit  lies  rather  in  its  strength  and  point  than 
in  the  choice  or  beauty  of  its  words.  Not  that  he  did  not  fully  com 
prehend  the  worth  of  words  and  the  grace  of  manner;  but  he 
seems  to  have  regarded  language  only  as  a  means  of  accomplishing 
his  purpose,  and  to  have  written  hastily  out  of  a  full  mind,  leaving 
first  thoughts  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Hence  that  freshness 
and  raciness  which  led  the  reader  captive,  and  drew  off  his  atten 
tion  from  minor  defects.  His  letters  partake  of  this  character 
to  a  considerable  extent.  In  all  his  writings  reason  predominates 
over  imagination ;  and  the  reader  quickly  sees  that  the  author 
derived  more  pleasure  from  the  pursuits  of  science  than  from 
those  of  literature.  The  same  trait  may  be  seen  in  his  criti 
cisms  on  books,  and  would  sometimes  lead  us  seriously  to  ques 
tion  the  purity  of  his  taste,  if  he  had  not  written  so  much  and 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  181 

so  well.  In  one  respect  he  surpassed  all  his  contemporaries :  in 
the  faculty  of  throwing  a  mass  of  doctrines  into  a  group,  and  in 
making  them  the  shibboleth  of  a  parly.  His  first  inaugural, 
severely  criticized  as  it  was,  and  in  some  respects  justly  amenable 
to  criticism,  was  the  most  remarkable  chart  of  a  party  known  in 
our  annals.  It  took  such  a  firm  hold  of  the  public  mind  that  neither 
the  eloquence,  the  wit,  nor  the  bitter  sarcasm  of  political  opponents 
could  loosen  it.  The  faculty  of  putting  great  truths  in  a  nutshell, 
of  compressing  whole  theories  or  doctrines  into  an  adage,  was  so 
conspicuous  in  his  writings  that  it  may  be  said,  when  he  wrote  a 
letter  or  a  paper  upon  a  party  topic,  the  letter  or  paper  became  the 
battle-ground  of  the  time.  It  was  the  armory  from  which  his 
friends  chose  their  weapons  of  offence  and  defence.  Its  phrases 
became  a  part  of  the  public  mind.  If  his  thoughts  recorded  in  a 
book  were  not  so  potential  as  his  lighter  essays,  it  was  because  they 
were  less  easily  accessible  by  the  mass  of  the  people.  Hence  the  first 
constitution  of  Virginia  withstood  for  near  fifty  years  his  attacks  in 
the  "Notes;"  but  when  he  threw  his  thoughts  into  the  shape  of  a 
letter  to  Kercheval,  the  fate  of  that  instrument  was  sealed.  The 
phrases  of  that  letter  were  at  once  stereotyped  in  the  public  voice  • 
and  it  was  amusing  to  observe  on  the  court  green  and  in  debate 
how  those  phrases  passed  current  with  men  who  had  never  seen  or 
heard  of  the  letter,  and  who  believed  that  they  were  clothing  their 
own  thoughts  in  their  own  words.  If  he  sought  strength  rather 
than  elegance  in  his  writings,  it  was  from  no  inability  to  adopt  a 
different  style.  Scattered  freely  throughout  his  works  are  passages 
of  extraordinary  grace  and  of  rare  excellence.  His  letter  of  con 
dolence  with  John  Adams  on  the  death  of  his  wife  is  justly  praised 
by  the  grandson  of  the  sage  of  Quincy  for  its  exquisite  beauty  of 
thought  and  diction  ;  and  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  happiest  and 
most  harmonious  compositions  in  the  language.  And  not  less 
beautiful  is  the  letter,  the  last  he  ever  wrote,  to  the  Washington 
committee,  declining  to  attend  the  celebration  of  that  Fourth  of 
July  on  which  he  was  to  die.  It  is  the  appropriate  and  melodious 
death-song  of  that  wondrous  magician  who  for  half  a  century 
wielded  at  will  the  affections  of  the  American  people. 

The  respective  styles  of  Jefferson  and  Madison  afford  a  singular 
exemplification  of  the  individual  character  of   each.*     As  diplo- 

*  It  is  not  unworthy  of  remark  that  both  Jefferson  and  Madison  wrote  excel- 


182  JEFFERSON  AND   MADISON   COMPARED. 

matists,  neither  of  them  had  a  rival.     The   letters   of  Jefferson  to 
Hammond,   and  of  Madison  to  Erskine,  are  the   best   specimens 
which   we  yet  possess   in  that  department  of  writing.     These  ex 
hibit  in  common  perfect  self-possession,  ample  research,  great  apt 
ness  in  disquisition,   and  vigor  and   elegance  of  expression  ;  but  it 
will  appear  on  a  closer  inspection  that  Jefferson,  though  reasoning 
on   large   general   principles,   hastens   rapidly  to   his    conclusions, 
which  he  presses  upon  his   antagonist  as  if  they  were  made  ex 
pressly  for  the  case   in  hand,  and  as  if  his  object  was  to  obtain  a 
present   victory.     Madison,  whose    scope   of  reasoning   is  equally 
as  wide,  is  more  elaborate  in  his  argumentation,  and  applies  his 
conclusions  with  equal  tact  to  the  case  in  hand;  but  in  his  philoso 
phical  mode  of  handling  the  subject,  seems  to  regard  his  present 
opponent  as  one  member  only  of  that  august  tribunal  present  and 
future  which  was  to  decide  the  question.     In  their  inaugural   as 
well   as    in    their  ordinary  messages   to   Congress   the    same  dis 
tinction  is  apparent.     Force  and  point  and  rapid  analysis  are  the 
characteristics  of  the  style  of   Jefferson  ;    full,  clear,  and   deliber 
ate  disquisition   carefully  wrought  out,  as   if   the   writer  regarded 
himself  rather    as  the  representative   of  truth  than  the  exponent 
of  the    doctrines  of  a  party  or   even  of  a    nation,  is   the  praise  of 
Madison.     One  wrote  as  a  great  minister  at  the  head  of  a  bureau, 
under   the   pressure  of  business,   and  thoroughly  conversant  with 
his  subject,   might  be   expected  to  write.     The    other  wrote  with 
full  deliberation  as  if  he  were  laying  down  the  rules  and  principles 
by  which  great  ministers  should  be  governed.     Hence,  as  before 
observed,  every  paper  from  the  pen  of  Jefferson  abounds  with  ex 
pressions  easily  separable  from  the  context,  which  became  the  tocsin 
of  a  party ;  while  it  is  difficult  to  cull  from  the  papers  or  even  the 
speeches  of  Madison,  written  on  purely  party  topics,  an  adage  or 
a  maxim,  or  even  a  pointed  phrase,  as  a  weapon  to  be  used   in  the 
existing  contest.      Jefferson  was   so   thoroughly  steeped  in  prac 
tical  affairs,  that  in  all  his  writings  he  could  never  let  the  politician 
drop  entirely  out  of  view.     Madison,  though  viewing  politics  as 

lent  hands.  It  is  said  that  the  leading  actors  in  the  drama  of  the  French  Rev 
olution  wrote  hands  that  were  hardly  legible— Napoleon  writing  worst  of  all. 
On  the  other  hand  our  great  Virginia  statesmen  excelled  in  this  respect.  Pey 
ton  Randolph,  Pendleton,  Mason,  Henry,  Read,  Carrington,  Cabell,  Wythe, 
Tazewell,  were  expert  and  graceful  pensmen.  The  beauty  of  Washington's 
hand-writing  is  proverbial. 


JEFFERSON   AND   MADISON   COMPARED.  183 

steadily  in  their  direct  application  to  business,  still  regarded  them 
as  a  science,  and  was  indisposed  to  attempt  a  conquest  by  other 
means  than  those  which  were  legitimate  in  a  discussion  of  pure 
philosophy. 

Their  respective  characteristics  were  evinced  in  their  use  of 
words.  Madison  was  probably  more  critically  learned  in  the  dead 
languages  than  Jefferson;  for  his  early  advantages  of  acquiring 
them  were  greater,  and  he  nearly  sacrificed  his  life  by  his  devotion 
to  letters  in  his  youth  ;  yet  in  the  course  of  his  life  he  never  dared 
to  coin  a  word.  He  was  so  well  satisfied  with  the  riches  of  the 
English  language  that  he  found  a  word  or  a  phrase  for  any  purpose. 
Jefferson,  as  if  disposed  to  assail  the  sovereignty  of  the  English 
tongue  as  well  as  the  sovereignty  of  the  English  sword,  never  hes 
itated  to  coin  a  word  when  it  suited  his  purposes  so  to  do ;  and 
though  many  of  his  brood  are  questionable  on  the  ground  of  ana 
logy  and  as  intermixing  languages  ;  yet  they  were  expressive,  and 
became  familiar.  The  epithet  ''pseudo-republican,"  the  product  of 
an  illegitimate  cross,  and  applied  to  a  celebrated  jurist  before  he 
assumed  the  gown,  is  a  word  of  his  coinage,  and  may  serve  to  re 
mind  the  political  adept  of  an  interesting  period  in  the  state  of 
parties. 

The  time  is  fast  corning,  if  it  has  not  already  come,  among  the 
nations  of  Europe  as  well  as  in  his  own  land,  when  the  name  of 
Jefferson  will  be  indisputably  the  first  on  the  civic  roll  of  America. 
Indications  clear  and  abundant  show  that  the  finest  minds  of  the 
age,  men  who  view  history  in  the  spirit  of  philosophy,  are  beginning 
to  assign  him  his  station  as  the  architect  of  American  liberty. 
Time,  and  distance  which  is  but  another  phase  of  time,  can  alone 
develope  the  true  proportions  of  a  great  reformer.  The  mists  of 
prejudice  and  faction,  of  party  and  personal  feeling,  which  darken 
the  vision  of  his  contemporaries,  must  be  allowed  to  dissolve.  We 
are  old  enough  to  remember  when  an  allusion  to  the  color  of  his 
breeches  would  excite  a  laugh  ;  and  within  a  quarter  of  a  century 
past,  and  within  less  than  four  years  after  his  body  had  been  com 
mitted  to  the  grave,  one  of  his  bitterest  opponents  sought  to  move  the 
mirth  of  a  grave  assembly  by  casting  ridicule  on  a  plough  invented 
by  the  author  of  the  declaration  of  independence.  He  lived  at  a 
time  of  extraordinary  excitement,  when  passion  passed  from  poli 
tics  to  persons,  and  when  the  courtesies  of  life  were  rarely  ex- 


184  THOMAS    JEFFERSON. 

changed  between  the  contending  parties.  Most  of  those  opponents 
have  departed  ;  but  their  prejudices  yet  survive  in  some  of  their 
descendants.  Another  generation  will  brush  them  all  away.  The 
publication  of  his  writings  has  contributed  wonderfully  to  his 
fame  abroad.  Here,  where  a  generation  has  not  passed  since  his 
death,  we  may  expect  that  some  harsh  conaments  wrhich  they  may 
contain  on  the  conduct  of  relatives  and  associates,  and  on  measures 
which  have  been  connected  with  the  names  of  honored  friends, 
will  in  certain  quarters  produce  a  sensation  ;  but  abroad  no  such 
feelings  exist.  Rarely  have  the  records  of  a  human  life  reaching 
beyond  eighty  years  presented  such  a  monument  of  industry,  of 
intelligence,  of  consistent  and  devoted  purpose,  of  patriotism  pure 
and  fearless,  and  of  a  rare  and  far-reaching  philanthropy.  Even 
his  "  Ana,"  which  have  been  severely  judged  here,  will  be  pro 
nounced  invaluable  memorials  of  his  times,  and  serve  with  the 
diaries  of  Reresby  and  Luttrell,  of  the  younger  Clarendon  and  the 
younger  Sidney,  of  Pepys  and  Evelyn,  to  let  us  in  behind  the 
scenes  of  outward  history.  It  is  immaterial  whether  those  records 
in  all  their  minute  details  be  true  or  false ;  it  is  enough  for  the 
purposes  of  history  to  know  that  they  were  believed  to  be  true, 
and  were  deliberately  recorded  and  acted  upon  by  the  statesman 
who  was  the  master-spirit  of  the  time.*  They  tend  to  illustrate 
the  greatest  transition-period  in  modern  history,  and,  apart  from 
the  particular  facts  which  they  disclose,  possess  an  inestimable 
value.  We  would  not  erase  a  single  line,  we  would  not  blot  a  sin 
gle  word,  from  his  writings  which  have  come  down  to  us.  As 
Christians,  wre  may  deeply  deplore  for  his  sake  the  fact,  that  his 
name  cannot  be  ranked  with  the  names  of  Locke  and  Newton  and 
Pascal,  and  of  your  own  Boyle, t  as  the  name  of  a  believer  in  the 
divinity  of  our  Saviour,  and  that  in  a  religious  view  we  must  place 
him  in  the  same  class  with  Franklin,  Governeur  Morris,  Allen, 
the  Adamses,  Story,  and  other  prominent  men  of  his  era.  But  the 
very  freedom  with  which  he  discloses  his  views  is  honorable  to 

*  Of  course,  I  am  pleased  when  any  descendant  of  the  actors  of  those  days 
can  remove  any  imputation  cast  upon  his  ancestors  ;  but.  with  all  such  ex 
planations  the  value  of  the  Ana  is  not  impaired.  The  belief  of  Jefferson  in 
their  truth  is  the  ground  of  their  worth.  What  would  we  give  for  the  Ana 
of  Hatnpden  or  Cromwell,  and  how  would  they  have  been  received  after  the 
Restoration,  or  even  in  the  time  of  the  Georges  ? 

|  Robert  Boyle  was  a  great  benefactor  of  William  and  Mary.  His  portrait, 
presented  by  his  brother  still  adorns  the  blue-room. 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON.  185 

him.  He  had  no  concealments  from  those  who  sought  his  opinions 
in  the  ordinary  forms  of  social  intercourse.  The  utter  absence  of 
all  hypocrisy  in  his  writings  is  a  merit  of  the  highest  order.  The 
disciples  of  Talleyrand  may  sneer  at  his  indiscretion,  and  may 
repeat  the  proverb  of  their  miserable  master ;  but  we  may  rejoice 
that  Jefferson  had  higher  views  cf  language  than  as  a  means 
of  concealing  his  thoughts  from  his  fellow-men.  We  see  him  and 
we  know  him  as  .he  was.  But,  aside  from  his  collected  writings 
which  posterity  will  cherish  as  its  most  precious  legacy  bequeathed 
by  the  primeval  age  of  the  republic,  his  titles  to  the  kind  remem 
brance  and  veneration  of  future  times  are  beyond  number.  Indeed, 
if  any  man  were  more  fortunate  than  another  in  interweaving  his 
name  with  the  affections  of  his  race,  Jefferson  is  that  man.  If  we 
cast  our  eyes  over  the  Commonwealth,  we  behold  everywhere  his 
handy-work.  The  traveller  as  he  approaches  the  Metropolis  of 
the  State  sees  eminent  above  every  other  building  our  majestic 
Capitol,  and  instantly  calls  to  mind  that  the  beautiful  representa 
tion  before  him  of  the  modern  capitol  of  Scamozzi  traced  by  the 
genius  of  Clerissault  was  the  design  of  Jefferson.  This  ancient 
city  is  full  of  associations  connected  with  his  history.  As  the  in 
telligent  stranger  enters  this  College,  and  recalls  the  many  dis 
tinguished  men  whose  youthful  footsteps  pressed  its  floors,  the 
name  of  your  most  illustrious  son  is  the  first  that  rises  to  his  lips. 
Here  he  spent  his  early  hours ;  here  he  gave  back  the  shouts  of 
laughter  among  his  fellows  ;  here  he  disciplined  his  fine  genius  ; 
and  hence  he  sallied  forth  to  engage  in  the  business  of  life ;  and 
subsequently,  when  he  was  invested  with  the  first  honors  of  the 
State,  he  again  appeared  within  your  walls,  and  devised  certain 
amendments  of  your  polity  which  still  exist  in  your  statute-book. 
It  was  in  the  domestic  circles  of  this  city  and  in  its  ancient  palace 
that  he  formed  his  manners,  and  acquired  that  social  grace  which, 
even  in  his  latest  days,  was  the  charm  of  all  who  approached  him. 
It  was  in  the  Capitol  in  this  city  that  he  heard  while  a  student  the 
eloquence  of  Henry,  and  became  instinct  with  that  love  of  coun 
try  which  inspired  him  through  life,  and  which  produced  its  rich 
fruits,  when,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  he  wrote 
some  of  the  ablest  state-papers  in  our  records.  The  elegant 
mansion  and  the  humble  cottage,  dotting  in  thick  profusion  the 
hills  and  dales  of  this  broad  land,  alike  speak  his  praise.  It  was 


186  THOMAS     JEFFERSON. 

his  work  that  the  colossal  fabric  of  primogeniture  and  entails  was 
demolished,  and  property  made  free.  It  is  his  work  that  the 
sons  and  the  daughters  of  common  parents  enjoy  the  common 
patrimony.  Inequality  of  wealth  will  indeed  exist  as  long  as  some 
men  spend  more  than  they  earn  and  others  earn  more  than  they 
spend  ;  for  such  an  effect  is  of  the  essence  of  freedom  ;  but  no 
human  law  prevents  the  division  of  estates.  When  Jefferson 
struck  at  the  laws  of  primogeniture  and  -entails,  the  property  of 
the  country  was  mainly  in  the  hands  of  a  few,  and  every  precau 
tion  the  wit  of  man  could  devise  for  its  perpetuation  in  the  same 
families  was  carefully  adopted.  But  such  has  been  the  effect  of 
his  policy,  that  at  this  day,  while  there  are  not  more  than  twenty 
men  in  the  State  who  would  be  deemed  rich  on  the  London  Exchange 
or  in  Wall  Street,  there  are  tens  of  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  thrifty  proprietors,  who  on  their  native  soil  and  in  the  shadow 
of  their  own  vine  are  enjoying  the  blessings  of  plenty  and  peace. 
Now  every  youth  starts  fair  in  the  race  of  wealth  and  fame.  This  is 
the  praise  of  Jefferson.  Every  temple,  however  humble  or  stately, 
reared  to  religion,  is  a  remembrancer  of  his  fame.  If  one  passion 
were  stronger  than  another  in  English  bosoms,  it  was  a  love  of  the 
established  church.  The  love  of  royalty  was  a  strong  passion  ; 
but  the  love  of  the  church  was  stronger  than  the  love  of  royalty. 
It  was  Jefferson  who  year  after  year  sapped  the  foundations  of 
this  sacred  monopoly  until  it  toppled  to  its  downfall.  And,  as  if 
there  was  permanency  in  all  his  deeds,  while  not  a  shred  of  the 
constitution  drawn  by  George  Mason  exists  in  our  present  form  of 
government,  the  preamble  from  the  pen  of  Jefferson  still  holds  its 
place  in  the  existing  constitution  and  in  the  affections  of  the  peo 
ple.  In  all  these  measures  he  may  be  said  to  have  appealed  to  the 
people  as  a  whole,  to  the  old  and  the  young,  to  the  wise  and  the 
simple.  But  in  the  establishment  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
he  may  be  said  to  have  rested  his  appeal  in  the  bosoms  of  the 
young  alone.  That  noble  institution  was  the  child  of  his  old  age. 
One  of  the  most  touching  of  all  his  letters  contains  the  glowing 
prediction  of  its  usefulness  which  is  verifying  every  hour.  His 
marble  image,  the  work  of  a  native  sculptor,  will  ere  long  adorn 
its  halls,  and  will  recall  him  to  the  eye  of  future  ages  such  as  he 
was,  when  surrounded  by  private  embarrassments  and  under  the  pres 
sure  of  age,  he  sought  to  open  up  in  the  wilderness  that  fountain  of 


THOMAS     JEFFERSON.  187 

letters  ;  but,  long  after  the  marble  shall  have  crumbled  to  dust,  the 
affections  of  youthful  genius  kindled  at  that  sacred  shrine  will  hal 
low  his  name.  If  we  look  beyond  the  Commonwealth,  the  evidences 
of  his  fame  crowd  upon  us.  The  Fourth  of  July  singled  out  from 
common  days  by  his  pen,  and  consecrated  by  his  death,  is  his  for 
ever.  As  long  as  that  day  in  the  endless  cycle  of  ages  shall  re 
turn,  his  fame  will  be  fresh.  The  currency  of  the  federal  govern 
ment,  so  simple  yet  so  perfect,  is  the  work  of  his  hands.  The 
mill,  the  cent,  the  dime,  the  dollar,  the  eagle,  perpetually  proclaim 
the  genius  of  the  man  who  called  them  into  being.  The  rules 
which  he  laid  down  as  the  guides  of  federal  policy  are  still  held 
in  such  repute  that  the  worth  or  want  of  worth  of  an  administra 
tion  is  decided  by  its  adherence  to  them  or  by  its  departure  from 
them.  It  was  his  doctrine  that  it  was  cheaper  and  more  honora 
ble  to  acquire  territory  by  the  purse  than  to  seize  it  with  the  sword  ; 
and  the  original  territory  of  Louisiana,  added  to  the  Union  with 
out  the  tears  of  the  vanquished  or  the  wail  of  the  widow,  without 
the  loss  of  a  single  life  or  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of  blood,  will  be 
a  memorial  of  his  worth  as  long  as  its  fertile  fields  produce  their 
harvests,  and  its  noble  rivers  bear  those  harvests  to  the  sea.  When 
we  look  at  the  unnumbered  and  important  topics  associated  with 
his  name,  all  of  which  are  intimately  connected  with  the  progress 
of  the  human  race,  when  we  contemplate  the  vast  extent  of  our 
country  which  will  in  due  time  be  settled  by  a  dense  population,  the 
increasing  facilities  [of  intercourse  among  nations,  the  power  of 
the  press  the  capacities  of  which  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
great  as  they  now  are,  are  but  in  the  process  of  development,  and 
the  expansive  tendencies  of  our  institutions,  and  turn  our  glance 
from  the  past  and  the  present  to  the  future,  may  we  not  conclude 
that,  though  a  century  has  passed  since  the  birth  of  Jefferson — a 
century  the  chronicles  of  which  are  resplendent  with  his  deeds — 
his  fame  is  as  yet  only  in  its  early  dawn  ?* 

*  The  sources  of  information  concerning  Jefferson  are  abundant.  I  need 
only  specil'y  his  memoir  of  himself  and  his  writings  generally,  the  excellent 
Life  of  Jefferson  by  Professor  Tucker  and  the  Eulogies  of  Wirt  and  Webster. 
I  wish  I  could  speak  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  sketch  in  the  work  called  Party 
Leaders  in  as  warm  terms  as  I  can  of  the  ability  and  eloquence  with  which  it 
is  written.  Mr.  Baldwin  has  brought  out  in  bold  relief  some  fine  traits  of  Jef 
ferson,  and  in  a  way  that  could  hardly  have  been  expected  from  an  opponent ; 
but  the  general  view  which  he  takes  is  that  which  could  only  be  taken  by  a 
disciple  of  Alexander  Hamilton  or  of  Timothy  Pickering. 

On  the  subject  of  the  constitutionality  of  acquiring  Louisiana,  about  which 


188  THOMAS   NELSON. 

To  pass  over  a  single  honored  name  of  the  Convention  is  a  sub 
ject  of  regret ;  but  we  have  far  exceeded  our  limits,  and  we  must 
touch  lightly  even  the  noble  name  of  THOMAS  NELSON,  who,  edu 
cated  at  this  College  and  at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  England, 
had  served  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  and  in  the  Council,  who  was 
a  member  of  all  the  Conventions  including  the  present,  in  which, 
however,  he  did  not  keep  his  seat,  having  been  deputed  to  Congress 
in  which  body  he  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  being  the 
fifth  member  of  the  Convention  whose  name  is  attached  to  that 
instrument;*  who  succeeded  Jefferson  as  governor  of  the  Common 
wealth  at  a  perilous  crisis,  and  whose  gallant  services  in  the  field 
with  his  purse  as  well  as  with  his  sword  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude 
and  admiration  of  his  country;  of  GEORGE  GILMER,  the  alternate  of 
Jefferson  and  his  intimate  friend,  whose  classic  memory  yet  sheds 
a  radiance  over  his  beloved  Albemarle  ;t  and  of  his  colleague 
CHARLES  LEWIS;  of  BENJAMIN  WATKINS  of  Chesterfield,  the  col 
league  of  ARCHIBALD  GARY,  whose  name,  revived  in  hi?  illustrious 
grandson,  has  become  the  talisman  of  honor,  of  genius,  of  eloquence, 
and  of  a  glowing  patriotism;  of  WILLIAM  FLEMING  of  Cumberland, 
a  son  of  William  and  Mary,  who  was  a  member  of  the  House  of 

Mr.  Jefferson  doubted  in  the  first  instance,  I  would  refer  the  reader  to  the 
argument  of  Mr.  Tazewell  in  a  report  on  the  Colonization  Society  made  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  in  1828,  which  is  the  ablest  exposition  of  the 
right  extant. 

The  name  of  Jefferson  was  among  the  first  settlers.  From  a  memorandum 
made  of  the  proceedings  of  the  first  House  of  Burgesses  existing  only  in  man 
uscript  in  the  British  State  Paper  Office  by  Conway  Robinson,  Esq.  it  appears 
that  a  Jefferson  was  one  of  the  Burgesses.  The  Madisons,  it  appears  from  the 
same  source,  had  come  over  to  the  colony  before  1623. 

*  The  members  of  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1776,  who  were  also  members 
of  Congress,  and  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  were  Wytho,  R 
H.  Lee,  Harrison,  Jefferson,  and  Nelson.  The  life  of  Nelson  was  shortened  by 
exposure  and  care  in  the  public  service.  He  died  at  his  seat  in  Hanover  on  the 
fourth  of  Jannary,  178!),  in  his  fiftieth  year.  The  eloquent  Innis  has  commem 
orated  the  death  of  his  friend  by  a  striking  eulogium  beginning:  "The  illus 
trious  General  Nelson  is  no  more  ;"  and  ending  with  the  lines  from  Shakspeare  : 

"  His  life  was  gentle  ;  and  the  elements 

So  mixed  in  him,  that  nature  mislit  stand  up 

And  say  to  all  the  world — this  was  a  MAN." 

A  sketch  of  his  life,  not  free  from  some  inaccuracies,  may  be  found  in  Sander 
son's  "Lives  of  the  Signers."  (VII,  265.)  See  also  Campbell's  History  page 
154,  where  it  is  said  a  beautiful  portrait  of  Nelson  taken  when  he  was  a  youth 
by  Chamberlin  in  London  is  now  at  Shelby  in  Gloucester,  the  seat  of  his  daughter 
Mrs.  Mann  Page. 

f  For  many  interesting  particulars  concerning  Dr.  Gilmer  see  Kennedy's  Life 
of  Wirt,  and  Gilmer's  Georgia  Letters. 


GENERAL   VIEW    OF   THE   MEMBERS.  189 

Burgesses  and  of  the  Conventions,  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
independence,  a  judge  of  the  General  Court  and  a  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals;*  of  Meriwether  Smith  of  Essex,  long  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  a  member  of  all  the  Conventions,  a 
member  of  the  Declaration  Committee,  and  a  member  of  the  Vir 
ginia  Federal  Convention;  of  JOSEPH  JONES  of  King  George,  long 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  a  member  of  all  the  Conven 
tions,  a  member  of  the  Declaration  committee,  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  a  judge  of  the  General  Court;  of  WILLIAM  Roscow  WILSON 
CURLE,  of  the  borough  of  Norfolk,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses,  and  a  judge  of  Admiralty  and  of  the  first  Court  of  Appeals; 
of  JAMES  MERCER  of  Hampshire,  a  student  of  William  and  Mary, 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  a  member  of  all  the  Conven 
tions,  a  member  of  the  Declaration  committee,  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  and  a  judge  of  Admiralty  and  of  the  first  Court  of  Appeals; 
of  RICHARD  GARY  of  Warwick,  a  student  of  William  and  Mary, 
long  a  member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  a  member  of  the  Decla 
ration  committee,  a  judge  of  the  General  Court,  and  a  member  of 
the  Virginia  Federal  Convention ;  of  SIMPSON  and  SMITH  of  Acco- 
mac;  of  TABB  and  WINN  of  Amelia;  of  RICHARD  LEE  and  JOHN  A. 
WASHINGTON  of  Westmoreland;  of  DUDLEY  DIGGES  and  WILLIAM 
DIGGES  of  York;  of  WTATTS  and  BOOKER  of  Prince  Edward  ;  of 
POYTHRESS  of  Prince  George  ;  of  MAYO  of  Cumberland ;  of  BUL- 
LITT  and  HENRY  LEE  of  Prince  William;!  of  COCKE  and  FAULCON 
of  Surry;  of  ROBINSON  and  THOROUGHGOOD  of  Princess  Anne;  of 
PAGE  and  THORNTON  of  Spottsylvama;  of  BRENT  of  Stafford;  o^- 
MASON  of  Sussex ;  of  the  HARWOODS  of  Charles  City  and  Wrar_ 
wick;  of  GRAY  and  TAYLOR  of  Southampton;  of  JAMES  TAYLOR  of 
Caroline;  of  TALBOT  and  LYNCH  of  Bedford;  of  KENNER  and  CRALLB 
of  Northumberland ;  of  BOWYER  and  LOCKHART  of  Botetourt ;  of 
ACRILL  of  Charles  City  ;  of  FIELD  and  STROTHER  of  Culpeper ;  of 

*  The  late  Daniel  Call  once  said  to  a  friend:  Roane  may  give  you  more  rea 
sons  for  his  opinions,  but  Fleming  is  more  apt  to  be  right. 

f  The  reader  will  not  confound  Henry  Lee  of  Prince  William  with  Richard  Hen 
ry  Lee  or  any  of  his  brothers,  or  with  Henry  Lee  of  the  Legion.  He  was  an  old 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  a  member  of  all  the  Conventions  and  of  the 
Declaration  committee,  and  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly.  His  stand 
ing  was  of  the  first  before  and  after  the  Revolution.  It  was  to  Joseph  Jones  ot 
King  George  to  whom  as  a  member  of  Congress,  George  Mason  addressed  his 
able  letter  on  the  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  land  dispute  in  1780,  which 
may  be  seen  in  the  Bland  papers,  Appendix,  124. 


190  GENERAL  VIEW   OF  THE   MEMBERS. 

BANISTER*  and  STARKE  of  Dinwiddie  ;  of  WILSON  MILES  GARY  and 
HENRY  KING  of  Elizabeth  City;  of  SCOTT  of  Fauquier,  a  name  which 
has  held  an  honorable  place  in  the  Conventions  of  Virginia  to  this 
day;  of  SPEED  of  Mecklenburg  and  of  his  colleague  GOODE,  a  name 
also  known  in  all  the  early  and  in  the  subsequent  Conventions;  of 
WILKINSON  and  ADAMS  of  Henrico;  of  HOLT  and  NEWTON  of  Norfolk; 
of  RIDDICK  and  COWPER  of  Nansemond ;  of  WILLS  and  FULGHAM  of 
Isle  of  Wight;  of  TERRY  and  WATKINS  of  Halifax;  of  GARLAND  of 
Lunenburg;  of  MERIWETHER  and  JOHNSON  of  Louisa:  of  AYLETT 
of  King  William ;  of  WOODSON  and  THOMAS  MANN  RANDOLPH  of 
Goochland ;  of  SELDEN  and  GORDON  of  Lancaster ;  of  PEYTON  of 
Loudoun  ;  of  BERKELEY  and  MONTAGUE  of  Middlesex;  of  NATHAN 
IEL  LYTTLETON  SAVAGE  and  GEORGE  SAVAGE  of  Northampton;  and 
of  others,  who,  as  students  of  William  and  Mary,  as  members  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  of  all  the  deliberative  bodies  of  the 
Revolution,  and  as  ardent  patriots,  deserve  our  favorable  regard. t 

But  it  is  time  that  the  Convention  adjourn.  Its  work  was  done 
and  well  done.  That  parting  scene  might  well  touch  the  sensibili 
ties  of  the  sternest  heart.  Some  strong  passions  had  been  roused 
at  several  stages  of  its  proceedings;  and  though  the  votes  on  the 
prominent  questions  were  apparently  unanimous,  there  were  some 
serious  struggles  in  adjusting  details,  and  the  line  of  division  between 
the  two  great  parties  was  more  than  once  sharply  drawn. t  As  is 
usual  at  the  close  of  a  session,  the  rules  of  order  were  slightly  re 
laxed.  A  group  of  members  might  have  been  seen  examining  the 
ingenious  device  of  the  public  seal  which  a  few  moments  before  had 
been  reported  by  Mason  and  unanimously  adopted  by  the  House ; 
and  others  were  at  the  table  of  the  Clerk  inspecting  the  enrolled 

*  There  is  no  living  male  descendant  of  Col.  Banister  that  I  am  aware  of.  He 
was  educated  in  England,  and  studied  law  at  the  Temple,  was  a  member  of  all 
the  early  Conventions,  a  colonel  in  the  Virginia  line,  and  a  member  of  Congress. 
A  small  stream  in  Halifax  bears  his  name.  He  died  in  1787  and  is  buried  in 
Dinwiddie  county  near  Hatcher's  Run.  There  is  a  miniature  likeness  oi  him 
at  Osmore  in  the  county  of  Amelia.  For  his  letters  arid  other  particulars  re 
specting  him  see  the  Bland  papers  collected  by  Charles  Campbell,  1o  winch  I 
am  indebted  for  these  details. 

f  The  general  catalogue  of  William  and  Mary,  recently  published  by  the 
faculty,  is  an  interesting  document;  but,  while  it  contains  the  names  of  some  of 
the  members  of  the  Convention  who  were  students  of  the  College,  it  omits 
others.  It  is  valuable  as  it  is,  and  will  be  doubtless  amended  in  the  next 
edition. 

|  See  Letter  of  George  Mason  of  May  18,  1776  in  the  archives  of  the  Histor 
ical  Society. 


CLOSE  OF  THE    CONVENTION". 

bill  of  the  constitution ;  but,  when  the  motion  to  adjourn  was  maae, 
the  members  hastened  to  ther  seats.  When  the  motion  was  carried, 
Pendleton  rose  slowly  from  the  chair  to  announce  the  result.  He 
evidently  felt  the  solemnity  of  the  scene.  His  handsome  face,  the 
serenity  of  which  the  fiercest  storm  of  debate  could  not  ruffle,  re 
flected  the  unwonted  feelings  which  agitated  his  bosom;  and  when 
the  clear  tones  of  that  silver  voice  fell  on  the  ears  of  the  members 
now  for  the  last  time,  feelings  too  dee})  for  utterance  were  excited  in 
every  bosom.  Yet  his  self-command  was  such,  no  emotion  save  in 
the  tremulous  fullness  of  his  voice  appeared  in  his  manner.  Pie 
spoke  deliberately  and  wisely  as  became  the  organ  of  such  a  bod}'. 
He  said  in  substance,  "  that  the  labors  of  the  Convention  were 
ended.  Independence  had  been  declared,  and  a  form  of  govern 
ment  had  been  adopted  ;  and  from  urgent  necessity  the  Convention 
had  devised  certain  measures  for  the  public  safety.  He  called  upon 
the  members  to  keep  in  mind  that  independence  was  yet  to  be 
maintained  in  the  field,  and  that  the  administration  of  the  new  gov 
ernment  required  the  constant  and  cordial  aid  of  the  people.  He 
felt  that  his  associates  would  act  their  part  with  honor,  and  would 
spend  their  treasure  and  their  blood  freely  in  the  common  cause  ; 
and  would  animate  the  people  by  their  example.  A  war  with  a 
powerful  nation  might  justly  be  deemed  formidable  even  to  a  na 
tion  long  established  and  well  provided  with  the  means  of  defence. 
But  their  case  was  peculiar.  They  were  engaged  in  a  struggle  of 
life  arid  death  under  circumstances  of  great  embarrassment.  They 
were  in  the  midst  of  a  civil  war.  The  hand  of  a  brother  might  be 
raised  against  a  brother;  the  nearest  and  dearest  ties  of  blood  and 
friendship  must  be  sundered.  If  they  were  unsuccessful,  their  es 
tates  would  be  confiscated,  their  families  would  be  reduced  to  want, 
and  the  scaffold  might  be  their  own  fate.  But  their  blood  would  not 
be  spilt  in  vain.  Their  cause  was  just.  Liberty  was  their  birthright, 
and  life  without  liberty  had  no  value  in  their  eyes.  The  contest 
was  no  choice  of  theirs.  They  had  been  driven  to  the  sword.  They 
had  committed  their  cause  to  the  God  of  Battles;  and  should  it  be 
His  will,  as  he  hoped  and  believed  that  it  would  be,  to  give  success 
to  their  arms,  what  a  glorious  triumph  awaited  them  ?  They  would 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  peace,  and  their  children  and 
their  children's  children  would  rise  up  and  call  them  blessed.  He 
returned  his  sincere  thanks  to  the  members  for  their  kind  appreciation 


192  CLOSE  OF  THE    CONVENTION. 

of  his  services  in  the  chair,  and  he  bade  them — one  and  all — an  affec 
tionate  farewell."  Thus  closed  the  sessions  of  the  Virginia  Con 
vention  of  1776,  the  deliberations  of  which  led  directly  to  the  es 
tablishment  of  American  Independence,  and  will  be  felt  in  human 
affairs  as  long  as  the  language  in  which  they  are  recorded  shall 
endure. 


CONCLUSION. 


Now,  Mr.  President,  we  have  heard  the  history  of  some  of  these 
worthy  men  under  whose  guidance  our  beloved  Virginia  cast  aside 
her  colonial  bonds,  and  assumed  a  position  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth.  Should  I  seem  to  have  dwelt  too  long  on  their  personal 
history,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  praise  of  but  few  of  them 
is  to  be  found  in  print,  and  that  the  rise,  progress,  and  consumma 
tion  of  the  Revolution  are  most  intimately  connected  with  the 
individual  character  and  personal  influence  of  the  men  who  were 
engaged  in  it.  Of  them  it  may  be  strictly  said,  that  they  were 
men,  not  whom  the  Revolution  made,  but  who  made  the  Revolu 
tion.  From  the  impulse  of  gain  or  ambition  no  prudent  man  of 
that  era  would  have  incurred  the  risks  of  a  radical  change.  Ulti 
mate  defeat  was  probable  ;  and  an  immense  loss  of  life  and  property 
was  inevitable.  Nought  but  the  defence  of  a  great  principle  would 
have  impelled  our  fathers  to  make  a  stand  on  such  an  occasion ; 
and,  as  we  have  reaped  the  rewards  of  their  sacrifices,  we  nat 
urally  seek  to  know  the  domestic  life  of  our  benefactors.  Let 
us  make  the  story  of  their  lives  the  first  lessons  of  the  young  as 
well  as  the  study  of  the  old.  Let  us  make  their  faces  and  their 
forms  familiar  to  the  public  eye.  Let  the  chisel  of  the  sculptor 
strike  from  the  rock  their  august  images  for  the  illustration  of  the 
Capitol.  Let  the  brush  of  the  artist  portray  their  features  for  the 
adornment  of  our  homes,  of  our  colleges,  and  of  our  historical 
halls.  Let  the  daguerreotype  reflect  from  the  walls  of  the 
humblest  cottage  of  a  Virginia  farmer  the  faces  of  the  Fathers  of 
the  Republic.  For  never  did  a  people  owe  more  to  their  ancestors 
than  we  do  to  ours.  A  more  magnificient  heritage  no  people  ever 
shared,  or  ever  descended  from  a  purer  source.  It  is  to  the  mem- 
13 


194  CONCLUSION. 

bers  of  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1776  that  we  are  indebted  for 
the  independence  of  Virginia.  It  was  their  mandate  to  our  dele 
gates  in  Congress  that  called  into  being  the  resolution,  drawn  by 
one  of  its  members,  which  pronounced  the  United  Colonies  free 
and  independent.  It  was  in  pursuance  with  that  resolution,  that  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  drawn  by  another 
of  its  members,  was  promulgated  to  the  world.  It  is  to  their  provident 
forecast  that  the  fundamental  and  inalienable  rights  of  man  are 
recorded  in  a  form  within  the  reach  of  the  humblest  citizen — a 
form  so  succinct  as  to  have  been  adopted  by  other  states  and  to 
become  the  common  birthright  of  the  American  people.  To  them 
belongs  the  honor  of  having  presented  to  the  world  the  first  model 
of  a  written  constitution  of  a  free  commonwealth.  These  venerable 
patriots,  to  whom  we  owe  so  much,  have  all  passed  away.  The  last, 
not  the  least  of  them  all,  was  gathered  to  his  fathers  amid  the  shades 
of  Montpelier  nineteen  years  ago.  The  wave  of  time  has  now  fairly 
settled  above  them  all.  Let  it  be  our  pride  to  cherish  their  memory. 
Let  us  teach  our  youth  to  repeat  their  names,  to  recount  their  deeds, 
and  to  imitate  their  virtues.  But  let  us  not  forget  that,  though  they 
have  passed  away,  our  beloved  Virginia  is  immortal.  She  still 
lives  in  the  freshness  of  life  and  in  the  prime  of  her  exceeding  loveli 
ness.  Time  has  written  no  wrinkle  on  her  majestic  brow.  Not  a 
leaf  of  the  laurels  with  which  two  centuries  have  bedecked  her 
has  withered  or  been  plucked  away.  The  Atlantic  marks  her 
empire  in  the  east,  and  the  gentle  waves  of  the  Ohio  wash  her 
northwestern  limit;  but  her  territory  no  longer  leans  on  the  Mis 
sissippi.  A  noble  state,  created  by  her  act,  and  carved  out  of 
her  lands,  once  known  as  the  Bloody  Ground,  now  as  Kentucky  ? 
forms  her  western  boundary.  Her  laws  organic  and  statute  she 
may  alter  or  amend  as  the  interests  and  feelings,  or  even  the 
caprices,  of  her  children,  may  require:  for  since  the  date  of  the 
Convention  a  white  population  exceeding  that  then  or  now  residing 
in  the  East,  strong  in  its  love  of  liberty  as  in  its  numbers,  and  de 
voted  to  her  rule,  has  sprung  into  existence  beyond  those  mountains 
which  were  then  the  almost  extreme  boundaries  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  on  the  American  continent.  Railways  and  canals  have  pene. 
trated  the  interior,  and  united  her  children  by  ties  which  may  never 
be  sundered.  This  College,  over  which  in  its  infancy  she  extended 
her  fostering  hand,  still  survives  to  bless  new  generations,  and  hails 


CONCLUSION.  195 

with  the  affection  of  a  sister  those  kindred  institutions  which  are 
lighting  the  mountain  and  the  plain  in  one  general  blaze  of  civiliza 
tion  and  knowledge.     Her  ancient  church,   the  object  of  her  early 
care,  resting  no  longer  on  the  infidel  arm  of  the   secular  power,  but 
on  the   arm   of  her   Divine   Master,    and  reposing  on  the  general 
affection,  flourishes  fairer  and  purer  and  lovelier  than  ever.     Nor  are 
her  temples  the  only  temples  on  which  a  Christian  patriot  delights  to 
dwell.     A  thousand  spires  reared  by  the  willing  hands  of  Christian 
men,  controlled  not  by  the  law  of  the  land  but  by  the  law  of  love, 
proclaim  the  great  truth   that   religion  is  free,   and  that  God  is  wor 
shipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth.     Well  may  our  blessed  mother  con 
template  with  joy  her   colleges  and  her  churches  ;  for  she  knows 
full    well    that    knowledge   and   religion   are   the   noblest  and   best 
defence  of  a  Commonwealth.     Behold  our  beloved  mother!     How 
beautiful  she  seems  !     Pure  as  she  is  beautiful,  good  as  she  is  great ! 
You  hear  no  word  of  repining,  no  voice  of  censure  or  of  envy,  from 
her  taintless  lips.     She  looks  abroad  over  the  Commonwealth.     She 
knows  no  East,  no  West,  no  North,    no    South.     She   regards  with 
equal    affection    all    her   children.     She    asks    not  in  what  distant 
clirne  any  of  them  may   have   been   born — enough  for  her  to  know 
that  they  cherish  her  prosperity,  and  have  their  homes  beneath  her 
wine's.     Now,  as  ever,  she  delights  in  the  beauty  and  piety  of  her 
daughters  and  in  the  wisdom   and   valor  of  her  sons;   and  many  a 
precious  name    has  she    garnered    beside   those  of   her  Clark,   her 
Henry,  and  her  Washington.     And  shall  we  not  requite  her  devoted 
affection?     Shall  we  not  cling,  aye,  forever  cling  to  that  soil  which 
our  mighty  fathers  trod,  and   beneath   which   they   are  laid  to  rest? 
Shall  we    not    sustain    with    our   latest   pulse  her  spotless  banner? 
Shall  we  not  seek  in   our   day   to   diffuse   that   brotherly  love,  that 
generous  civilization,  that  love  of  liberty  and  that  light  of  letters, 
which  she  prizes  so  well  ?     Shall  we  not  seek  by  a  mild  and  wise 
policy  to  undermine  the  loathsome  jail  and  the  fearful  penitentiary, 
and  rear  on  their  reeking  ruins   the  school-house,   the  college,  and 
the  church?     Shall    we    not    seek    by   physical   means  as  well  as 
moral,  by  the  railway  and  the  canal  as  well  as  by  the  school-house 
and  the  church,  to  connect  in  pleasant  communion   all  the  parts  of 
our  territory,  all  the  children  of  one  family  ?     Thus  shall  we  earn 
a  title  to  be  remembered,  when  our  ashes  shall  have    mingled  with 
the  ancestral  mould,  by    the    sons    and    daughters  of  Virginia  who 


196  CONCLUSION. 

may  henceforth  assemble  in  this  hall  to  dwell  upon  the  past,  and  to 
invoke  upon  future  generations  the  untold  blessings  which  we  now 
enjoy. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  express  the  pleasure  which  I  have  enjoyed 
in  revisiting  after  a  long  lapse  of  years  your  ancient  institution. 
When  in  the  distance  I  beheld  the  rays  of  the  sun  glancing  from 
her  hoary  roof,  all  her  precious  associations  crowded  upon  me.  Her 
position  in  this  rural  and  peaceful  city,  once  the  metropolis  of  the 
Colony  and  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  ever  the  abode  of  high  cour 
tesy  and  honor,  where  the  Muses  have  loved  so  long  to  dwell;* 
her  structure  still  stately  and  sound  with  a  century  of  years  chron 
icled  on  its  front — transported  me  into  the  past,  and  I  seemed  to  see 
the  incidents  of  her  busy  life  rise  in  quick  succession  before  me.  I 
could  share  the  exultation  of  your  pious  Founder  as  he  saw  rising 
day  by  day  an  edifice  from  which  a  band  of  educated  youth  would 
go  forth  to  teach  the  savage,  and  to  diffuse  in  the  New  World  the 
benefits  of  knowledge  and  religion.  The  names  of  his  successors 
in  the  presidency,  the  Dawsons,  Stith,  Yates,  Horrox,  Canim,  Mad 
ison,  Smith,  Wilmer,  Dew,  who  devoted  their  lives  to  the  cause  of 
literature  and  science,  and  who  trained  many  a  noble  youth  for  the 
service  of  his  country,  rush  upon  my  recollection.  I  can  trace  the 
youthful  Washington  as  he  passes  your  portal,  with  his  warrant  of 
Surveyor  in  his  possession,!  ready  to  enter  the  wilderness  in  pur 
suit  of  fortune,  to  that  later  day  when,  with  all  his  honors  fresh 
upon  him,  the  successor  of  the  Bishop  of  London  as  Chancellor  of 
the  College,  he  led  your  annual  convocations.  I  see,  too,  pass 
from  your  Board  of  Examiners  which  met  in  this  building,  bearing 
their  warrants  of  Surveyor  with  them,  William  Mayo,  just  arrived 
from  his  home  in  the  Antilles,  and  destined  to  run  that  line  which 
still  marks  the  boundary  of  two  sovereign  States  ;  Thomas  Lewis, 

*  By  the  seventeenth  section  of  the  charter  of  William  and  Mary  granted  in 
1692,  it  is  declared  that  the  lands  of  the  College  shall  be  held  by  the  trustees 
by  fealty,  in  free  and  common  socage,  they  paying  to  the  king  and  his  succes 
sors  two  copies  of  Latin  verses  yearly,  on  every  fifth  day  of  November,  at  the 
house  of  the  governor  or  lieutenant  governor  for  the  time  being,  in  full  dis 
charge  of  all  quitrents  &c." 

}  The  office  of  Surveyor  General  was  conferred  on  the  Faculty  of  the  College 
by  the  sixteenth  section  of  the  charter  which  enjoins  that  the  professors  "  shall 
nominate  and  substitute  such  and  so  many  particular  surveyors  for  the  particular 
counties  of  our  Colony  of  Virginia,  as  our  governor  in  chief,  and  the  council  of 
our  said  Colony,  shall  think  fit  and  necessary ;"  for  which  service  they  were  to 
receive  "  the  profits  and  appurtenances  of  the  office,"  which  were  already  es 
tablished  by  law. 


CONCLUSION.  197 

the  first  surveyor  of  Augusta,  and  Thomas  Read,  the  first  surveyor 
of  the  patriotic  county  in  which  I  reside,  whose  services  and  sacri 
fices  on  the   altar  of  their  country  I  have  dwelt  upon  elsewhere  ; 
and  Zachary  Taylor,  the  father  of  that  heroic  man   who  inscribed 
the  names  of  Palo  Alto,  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  Monterey,  and  Buena 
Vista  by  the  side  of  those  of  Princeton,  Trenton  and  York.     I  can 
see  Wythe  and  Small  in  earnest  conversation   as  they  leave  your 
lecture-room,  accompanied  by  that  tall  red-haired  boy  whom  with 
prophetic  sagacity  they  had  singled  out  among  his  fellows  as  their 
compeer  and  friend,  and  who,  while  they  were  yet  living,  was  to 
preside  in  the  government  of  a  nation  which  had  received  its  bap 
tism  at  his  hands.     I  see  that  generous  band  of  students  who  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Revolution   hurriedly   cast   aside   the   gown,  and 
sallied  forth  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  United   Colonies.     The  Boi 
lings,  the   Burwells,  the   Byrds,  the   Carters,  the  Cockes,  the  Clai- 
bornes,  the  Dades,  the  Digges',  the  Egglestons,  the  Harrisons,  the 
Lyons',  the   Mercers,  the   Monroes,  the   Nelsons,  the   Pages,   the 
Randolphs',  and  the  Saunders',  appear  before  me  almost  with  the 
distinctness  of  real  life.     And   when  the  struggle  was  past,  I  see 
two  tall  and  gallant  youths,  who  had  been  classmates  in  early  youth, 
and  whose    valor  had  shone  on  many  a  field,  enter  their  names  on 
your  lists,  and  after  an  abode  beneath  your  roof  depart  once  more  to 
serve  their  country  in  the  senate  and  in  the  most  celebrated  courts 
of  Europe,   crowning  their  public  career  by  filling,  one  of  them  the 
Chief  Magistracy  of  the  Union,  the  other  the  highest  office  of  the 
Federal  Judiciary.     I  see  another  tall  and  graceful  youth,  who,  I 
rejoice  to  say,  is  still  living — and  long  may  he  live  the  bulwark  of 
his  own  and  the  admiration  of  other  lands — as  he  leaves  this  build 
ing  on  his  errand  of  patriotism,  and  I  can  almost  hear  the  shouts  of 
his   successors  in  this  hall  as  in  due  time  he  connected  with  your 
history  and  with  the  history  of  the  age  the  magic  words  of  Chippewa 
and  Lundy's  Lane,  and  I  hear  those  shouts  redoubled  as  the  names 
of  Vera  Cruz,  the  King's  Bridge,  Cerro  Gordo,  Cherubusco,  Molino 
del  Rey,  Chapultepec  and  the  city  of  Mexico  are  borne  to  them  in 
close  array  on  the  wings  of  the  Southern  breeze.     I  see  a  host  of 
young  men   departing  from  you  year  after  year,  some  of  whom  are 
now  among  the  brightest  ornaments  of  their  country,  and  who  have 
shed  a  new  lustre  on  the  name  of  William   and  Mary.     I  ascend 
your  stairway  worn  by  the  tread  of  a  century,  and   another  pano- 


198  CONCLUSION. 

rama  is  unrolled  to  the  eye.  I  enter  your  Blue  Room,  the  scene  of 
your  early  convocations,  and  inspect  with  surpassing;  interest  your 
charter  filling  a  score  of  sheets  of  parchment  with  its  details,  and 
the  books  of  your  ancient  records;  and  I  gaze  with  unutterable  emo 
tions  on  the  portraits  which  depend  from  its  cornice.  The  image 
of  your  Founder,  side  by  side  with  that  of  his  duteous  wife,  who 
shared  with  him  his  early  hardships  and  who  sustained  him  stag 
gering  beneath  the  weight  of  those  responsibilities  civil  as  well  as 
religious  which  for  near  two-thirds  of  a  century  devolved  upon  him, 
there  finds  its  fitting  habitation.  The  face  of  the  philosophic  Boyle, 
drawn  by  no  common  hand  and  yet  untouched  by  time,  one  of  your 
earliest  and  most  liberal  benefactors,  who,  undazzled  by  a  fame 
which  filled  the  ear  of  Europe,  sought  by  the  assistance  of  your 
predecessors  to  bring  the  untutored  Indian  within  the  pale  of  Chris 
tianity  and  letters,  and  whose  name  is  inseparably  connected  with 
your  College,  still  beams  with  all  that  mild  beneficence  which  so 
tenderly  appealed  to  the  hearts  of  our  fathers.  There  the  face  of 
the  lamented  Dew,  the  friend  of  other  days,  justly  your  pride  and 
the  pride  of  his  country,  while  wre  weep  to  think  that  his  ashes  are 
far  away  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  greets  us  with  his  wonted 
smile  in  the  heart  of  his  home  and  in  the  home  of  his  heart.  I  enter 
your  library  and  the  collective  wisdom  of  centuries  look  down  upon 
me  from  its  shelves.  I  open  with  reverence  your  magnificent  edi 
tion  of  Chrysostom,  and  I  read  on  its  frontispiece  in  his  own  hand 
writing  that  it  was  presented  to  our  fathers  more  than  a  century  ago 
by  the  first  peer  of  the  British  realm — a  gift  so  fit  for  an  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  to  bestow  and  for  our  fathers  to  receive.  I  open 
another  magnificent  volume,  and  the  arms  of  Louis  the  Sixteenth, 
who  gave  us  the  aid  of  his  fleets  and  armies  in  the  war  of  indepen 
dence,  proclaim  its  story.  The  names  of  Blair,  Spotswood,  Din- 
widdie,  Fauquier,  Botetourt,  are  seen  everywhere  in  those  votive 
books.  Guard,  Mr.  President,  guard  with  more  than  vestal  care 
those  sacred  memorials  which  connect  your  institution  so  intimately 
and  so  honorably  with  the  good  and  the  great  of  past  ages.  Let 
no  profane  hand  touch  them.  Let  no  impious  innovator  re 
move  them  from  the  spot  where  our  honored  fathers  in  the 
fulness  of  their  hearts  delighted  to  place  them.  But  it  is  not 
the  symbols  of  departed  genius  alone  that  touch  me.  There 
is  one  spectacle  in  this  College  more  grateful  still.  In  your  Faculty 


CONCLUSION.  199 

I  behold  men  worthy  to  wear  the  mantles  of  their  illustrious  prede 
cessors,  and,  above  all,  do  I  behold  a  large  number  of  generous 
young  men,  filling  the  rooms  which  their  fathers  filled  before  them, 
and  ready  to  go  forth,  like  their  fathers,  in  the  fulfilment  of  those 
duties  which  Virginia  exacts  from  her  educated  sons,  and  to  earn 
new  trophies  to  be  placed  at  her  fe^t.  These  are  cheering  signs 
and  fill  the  heart  of  the  patriot  with  joy.  Go  on,  sir,  with  your  ac 
complished  associates,  in  the  course  which  you  have  so  handsomely 
begun,  and  the  aspirations  of  the  pious,  the  patriotic,  and  the  learned 
will  hallow  your  path. 


NOTE. 


It  may  be  said  that  many  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  of  1776  attained 
a  good  old  age.  Madison  outlived  all  his  associates  in  that  body,  having  sur 
vived  the  adjournment  sixty  years,  and  dying  on  the  28th  of  June,  1836,  aged 
85  years,  three  months  and  fourteen  days ;  and  Paul  Carrington  died  on  the 
21st  of  June,  1818  aged  85  years,  three  months,  and  twenty-five  days,  thus  at 
taining  a  greater  age  than  Madison  by  eleven  days.  Carrington  died  of  a  diar 
rhea  which  he  neglected  too  long.  Jefferson  died  on  the  fourth  of  July  1826, 
aged  83  years,  three  months  and  three  days.  Pendleton  died  in  his  83rd  year, 
and  Wythe  by  poison  on  the  eighth  of  June  1806,  aged  80.  Col.  Thomas  Lewis 
died  of  a  cancer  in  his  face  in  his  72d  year,  and  Col.  Thomas  Read  of  an  affec 
tion  of  the  bladder  in  his  76th  year.  Col.  Arthur  Campbell  died  in  Knox 
county,  Kentucky,  of  a  cancer  on  the  face  in  his  74th  year.  George  Mason 
died  on  the  seventh  of  October,  1792,  aged  66.  Col.  Richard  Bland  died  in 
his  69th  year  in  October  1776  of  an  apoplectic  fit  which  came  upon  him  while 
walking  the  streets  of  Williamsburg.  I  ought  to  have  stated  in  the  notice  of 
Bland  that  he  was  attending  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  at  the  time, 
and  was  chairman  of  the  select  committee  which  reported  Mr.  Jefferson's  cele 
brated  bill  "  to  enable  tenants  in  taille  to  convey  their  lands  in  fee  simple." 
He  was  the  first  member  of  the  Convention  who  died,  having  departed  within 
four  months  after  the  adjournment.  Judge  Blair  died  in  Williamsburg  on  the 
thirty-first  of  August  1800,  aged  69.  Col.  Archibald  Cary  died  at  Ampthill 
in  1786  between  60  and  70,  and  Col.  Nicholas  at  his  seat  in  Hanover  where  he 
was  spending  the  summer  in  1780  in  or  near  his  65th  year.  The  date  of  the 
birth  of  Cary  and  Nicholas  I  have  sought  in  vain,  and  it  is  probable  that  I  have 
made  Nicholas  older  than  he  was.  Benjamin  Watkins  died  about  1780,  it  is 
believed,  between  60  and  70.  Patrick  Henry  died  on  the  sixth  of  June,  1799, 
aged  63  years  and  ten  days,  of  a  disease  of  the  bladder  which  modern  science 
might  probably  have  relieved.  Richard  Henry  Lee  died  in  his  sixty-second 
year.  His  brother  Thomas  Ludwell,  a  member  of  the  Convention  from  the 
county  of  Stafford,  and  one  of  the  Revisors,  died  in  his  47th  year.  Judge 
Tazewell  died  in  Philadelphia  in  1799  in  his  forty-sixth  year.  James  Mercer 
died  in  1793  beyond  middle  life.  Thomas  Nelson  died  in  1789,  aged  50.  W. 
R.  Wilson  Curie  died  before  the  close  of  the  war  somewhat  beyond  middle  age. 
Merri wether  Smith,  and  Henry  Lee  of  Prince  William  (not  Legion  Harry) 


202  NOTE. 

died  at  an  age  considerably  advanced.  Edmund  Randolph  died  on  the  twelfth 
of  September  1813  in  the  county  of  Frederic,  now  Page,  aged  60  years,  one 
month  and  three  days.  He  was  stricken  with  palsy,  the  disease  of  his  race, 
his  son  having  been  stricken  with  the  same  disease  in  the  life-time  of  his  father. 
Peyton  Randolph,  the  president  of  the  Convention  until  July  1775,  also  died  of 
palsy  in  his  52nd  year,  "  having  been  seized  while  dining  at  Mr.  Harry  Hall's 
in  Philadelphia,  and  dying  before  nine  the  same  night."  (Washington's  Writ 
ings  Vol.  Ill,  140,  note.)  The  father  of  Peyton  died  in  his  44th  year,  and 
the  brother  of  Peyton,  John,  the  A'torney  General,  died  in  England  about  his 
56th  year  as  near  as  I  can  determine. 

In  another  place  I  have  alluded  to  the  lofty  stature  of  the  members  of  the 
early  Conventions.  Washington  who  was  a  member  of  the  Conventions  of 
August  1774  and  of  March  1775,  the  Lewises,  the  Randolphs,  George  Mason, 
Pendleton,  the  Cabells,  the  Carringtons,  Henry,  Bland,  the  Lees,  Jefferson,  the 
Campbells,  Blair,  Tazewell,  were  nearly  all  fully  six  feet,  and  some  of  them 
above  that  mark.  Wythe  and  Madison  were  small ;  although  Mr.  Jefferson 
represents  Wythe  as  of  middle  size  in  early  manhood.  He  appeared  small  in 
old  age.  Madison  was  probably  the  only  very  small  man  in  the  Convention  of 
1776.  Of  a  later  date,  Marshall  and  Monroe  were  tall.  Innis  was  probably  the 
largest  man  in  the  Union.  The  Conqueror  of  Mexico  overtops  his  fellow-mor 
tals  in  stature  as  well  as  in  military  fame.  It  was  for  a  long  time  believed  in 
England  that  the  Virginians  approached  the  gigantic.  When  a  British  offi 
cer  who  was  taken  by  Manning  at  Eutaw,  reached  England,  he  reported  that 
he  was  seized  by  "  a  huge  Virginian."  Manning,  however,  as  I  was  told  by 
one  who  knew  him,  was  rather  below  than  above  the  middle  stature. 

Red  hair  was  another  peculiarity  of  the  Virginians.  One  who  saw  the 
Virginia  troops  pass  through  Petersburg  on  their  way  to  join  the  army  of 
Greene,  told  my  informant  that  two-thirds  of  the  officers  had  red  hair.  Jef 
ferson,  Campbell,  the  hero  of  King's  Mountain,  Arthur  Campbell,  John  Taylor 
of  Caroline,  many  of  the  valiant  race  of  Green,  had  red  hair.  It  would  seem 
that  the  red  hair  flamed  more  in  the  field  than  in  the  cabinet.  The  hair 
of  Patrick  Henry  was  sandy  I  am  inclined  to  think,  although  no  member  of 
his  family  could  remember  its  color,  as  he  was  bald  in  early  life,  wearing  a  wig 
abroad  and  a  linen  cap  at  home.  George  Mason  in  early  life  was  as  swarthy  and 
had  as  black  eyes  and  black  hair  as  Charles  the  Second  whom  his  ancestor  sus 
tained  in  the  bloody  field  of  Worcester.  Carrington,  I  am  disposed  to  believe, 
had  sandy  hair,  approaching  to  red. 

The  following  counties  are  called  in  honor  of  members  of  the  Convention 
of  1776  : 

Harrison,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Mason,  Nelson,  Patrick  and  Henry,  (after 
Patrick  Henry,)  Pendleton,  Randolph,  (after  Edmund,)  Russell,  Tazewell,  and 
Wood. 

The  following  counties  bear  the  names  of  members  of  the  Convention  but 
are  called  as  follows  : 

Cabell  after  the  late  Judge  W.  H.  Cabell,  Campbell  after  Gen.  Wm.  Campbell, 
Lewis  after  Col.  Charles  Lewis  who  fell  at  Point  Pleasant,  the  brother  of 


NOTE.  203 

Thomas  and  Andrew,  Mercer  after  Gen.  Hugh  Mercer,  Page,  after  Gov.  John 
Page,  Scott  after  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  Lee  after  Gen.  Henry  Lee,  and  Taylor 
after  John  Taylor  of  Caroline,  or  Gen.  Robert  B.  Taylor  of  Norfolk,  or,  if  I 
remember  the  debate  on  the  name  rightly,  after  both.  Neither  Peyton  Ran 
dolph  nor  Richard  Henry  Lee  have  been  commemorated  in  our  list  of  counties. 

In  dispatching  this  last  proof  to  the  press,  it  may  be  well  enough  to  inform 
the  reader  that  much  of  this  discourse  was  passed  over  in  the  delivery.  The 
debatable  parts,  as  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration,  the  North  Carolina  resolution 
of  independence,  and  the  peculiar  views  respecting  the  Cavalier,  were  either 
explicitly  stated  in  substance  or  in  full ;  but  most  of  the  biographical  details 
were  necessarily  omitted.  I  regret  on  looking  back  that  I  have  passed  over 
so  many  names  which  merit  a  lasting  remembrance.  The  gallant  services  of 
Col.  Arthur  Campbell  deserves  a  deliberate  record.  His  position  in  the  Con 
vention  was  most  commanding.  Col.  Christian,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
March  and  July  Conventions  of  1775  had  retired  to  lead  the  expedition  against 
the  Cherokees,  and  Col.  Campbell  was  the  bestoinformed  man  in  the  body  on 
Indian  affairs — a  subject  of  the  highest  importance  when  it  was  known  that 
the  great  object  of  the  British  Government  was  to  kindle  an  Indian  war  on  our 
frontiers.  Col.  Campbell  afterwards  succeeded  Col.  Christian  in  the  command 
of  the  army  against  the  Indians.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  removed  to  Ken 
tucky,  then  a  part  of  Virginia,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  It 
was  his  son  who  commanded  the  right  wing  of  the  army  under  Gen.  Scott  at 
the  battle  of  Chippewa,  where  he  fell.  The  names  of  Gen.  William  Russell, 
of  Gov.  Wood,  of  Samuel  McDowell,  of  Harvie  and  Simms,  of  Bowyer  and 
Lockart,  and  of  others  who  came  from  the  Valley  and  from  the  Peidmont  re 
gion,  merit  a  fuller  notice  than  I  have  been  able  to  give  them.  In  many  cases 
I  knew  not  who  was  their  representative,  to  whom  I  might  write ;  for  books 
afforded  very  little  information  respecting  any  of  my  subjects ;  and  the  time 
for  the  delivery  of  the  discourse  was  rapidly  drawing  near.  A  list  of  the 
members  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix,  and  I  particularly  request  that  the  de 
scendant  or  representative,  or  friend  of  any  one  of  them  will  consider  this  notice 
as  a  letter  expressly  addressed  to  him  with  an  earnest  solicitation  for  the  details 
of  the  lives  and  characters  of  the  members.  As  this  discourse  will  probably  be 
republished  with  the  discourse  on  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1829-30  al 
ready  delivered,  and  with  the  discourse  on  the  Convention  of  1788,  which  I 
have  been  requested  by  the  Virginia  Historical  Society  to  prepare,  it  would 
afford  me  great  pleasure  to  publish  as  full  details  of  the  lives  of  the  members 
as  my  limits  will  allow.  I  would  also  make  the  same  request  of  those  who 
represent  the  members  of  the  Convention  of  1788.  My  address  from  the 
first  of  November  to  the  first  of  June  is  Norfolk,  and  from  the  first  of  June 
to  the  first  of  November  Charlotte  C.  H.  Va. 

December  12,  1853. — It  is  due  to  the  reputation  of  Pendleton,  Henry,  and 
Nelson,  to  state  a  fact  which  I  accidentally  discovered  some  days  ago  in  the 
Virginia  Gazette  of  Nov.  2,  1803.  It  is  there  reported  that  Edmund  Randolph 
in  his  address  at  the  funeral  of  Pendleton  stated  that  the  resolution  instructing 


204  NOTE. 

our  Delegates  in  Congress  to  declare  independence  was  drawn  by  Pendleton, 
was  offered  in  Convention  by  Nelson,  and  was  advocated  on  the  floor  by  Henry. 
In  a  note  on  page  68,  John  Nicholas  is  inadvertently  stated  to  have  repre 
sented  New  York  in  Congress.  He  did  not  re-enter  Congress  after  leaving 
Virginia. 


APPENDIX. 


A  list  of  the  members  of  the  Convention  of  Virginia  which  begun  its  sessions  in  the 
City  of  Williaimburg  on  Monday  the  sixth  of  May,  1776,  as  copied  from  the 
Journal : 

ACCOMAC,  Southey  Simpson  and  Isaac  Smith,  Esquires. 

ALBEMARLE,  Charles  Lewis  Esquire,  and  George  Gihnerfor  Thomas  Jefferson, 

Esquire. 

AMELIA,  John  Tabb  and  John  Winn,  Esquires. 
AUGUSTA,  Thomas  Lewis  and  Samuel  McDowell,  Esquires. 
WEST  AUGUSTA,  John  Harvie  and  Charles  Simms,  Esquires. 
AMHERST,  William  Cabell  and  Gabriel  Penn,  Esquires. 
BEDFORD,  John  Talbot  and  Charles  Lynch,  Esquires. 
BOTETOURT,  John  Bowyer  and  Patrick  Lockhart,  Esquires. 
BRUNSWICK,  Frederic  Maclin  and  Henry  Tazewell,  Esquires. 
BUCKINGHAM,  Charles  Patteson  and  John  Cabell,  Esquires. 
BERKELEY,  Robert  Rutherford  and  William  Drew,  Esquires. 
CAROLINE,  the  Hon.  Edmund  Pendleton  and  James  Taylor,  Esquires. 
CHARLES  CITY,  William  Acrill,  Esquire,  and  Sam.  Harwood,  Esquire,  for  B. 

Harrison,  Esquire. 

CHARLOTTE,  Paul  Carrington  and  Thomas  Read,  Esquires. 
CHESTERFIELD,  Archibald  Gary  and  Benjamin  Watkins,  Esquires. 
CULPEPER,  Henry  Field  and  French  Strother,  Esquires. 
CUMBERLAND,  John  Mayo  and  William  Fleming,  Esquires. 
DINWIDDIE,  John  Banister  and  Boiling  Starke,  Esquires. 
DUNMORE,  Abraham  Bird  and  John  Tipton,  Esquires. 
ELIZABETH  CITY,  Wilson  Miles  Gary  and  Henry  King,  Esquires. 
ESSEX,  Meriwether  Smith  and  James  Edmondson,  Esquires. 
FAIRFAX,  John  West,  jun.  and  George  Mason,  Esquires. 
FAUQUIER,  Martin  Pickett  and  James  Scott,  Esquires. 
FREDERICK,  James  Wood  and  Isaac  Zane,  Esquires. 
FINCASTLE,  Arthur  Campbell  and  William  Russell,  Esquires. 
GLOUCESTER,  Thomas  Whiting  and  Lewis  Burwell,  Esquires. 
GOOCHLAND,  John  Woodson  and  Thomas  M.  Randolph,  Esquires. 
HALIFAX,  Nathaniel  Terry  and  Micajah  Watkins,  Esquires. 
HAMPSHIRE,  James  Mercer  and  Abraham  Kite,  Esquires. 


20G  APPENDIX. 

HANOVER,  Patrick  Henry  and  John  Syme,  Esquires. 

HENRICO,  Nathaniel  Wilkinson  and  Richard  Adams,  Esquires. 

JAMES  CITY,  Robert  C.  Nicholas  and  William  Norvell,  Esquires. 

ISLE  OF  WIGHT,  John  S.  Wills  and  Charles  Fulgham,  Esquires. 

KING  GEORGE,  Joseph  Jones  and  William  Fitzhugb,  Esquires. 

KING  AND  QUEEN,  George  Brooke  and  William  Lyne,  Esquires. 

KING  WILLIAM,  William  Aylett  and  Richard  Squire  Taylor,  Esquires. 

LANCASTER,  James  Selden  and  James  Gordon,  Esquires. 

LOUDOUN,  Francis  Peyton  and  Josias  Clapham,  Esquires. 

LOUISA,  George  Meriwether  and  Thomas  Johnson,  Esquires. 

LUNENBURG,  David  Garland  and  Lodowick  Farmer,  Esquires. 

MIDDLESEX,  Edmund  Berkeley  and  James  Montague,  Esquiers. 

MECKLENBURG,  Joseph  Speed  and  Bennett  Goode,  Esquires. 

NANSEMOND,  Willis  Riddick  and  and  William  Cowper,  Esquires. 

NEW  KENT,  William  Clayton  and  Bartholomew  Dandridge,  Esquires. 

NORFOLK,  James  Holt  and  Thomas  Newton,  Esquires. 

NORTHUMBERLAND,  Rodham  Kenner  and  John  Cralle,  Esquires. 

NORTHAMPTON,  Nathaniel  L.  Savage  and  George  Savage,  Esquires. 

ORANGE,  James  Madison  and  William  Moore,  Esquires. 

PITTSYLVANIA,  Benjamin  Lankford  and  Robert  Williams,  Esquires. 

PRINCE  EDWARD,  William  Watts  and  William  Booker,  Esquires. 

PRINCE  GEORGE,  Richard  Bland  and  Peter  Poythress,  Esquires. 

PRINCESS  ANNE,  William  Robinson  and  John  Thoroughgood,  Esquires. 

PRINCE  WILLIAM,  Cuthbert  Bullittand  Henry  Lee,  Esquires. 

RICHMOND,  Hudson  Muse  and  Charles  McCarty,  Esquires. 

SOUTHAMPTON,  Edwin  Gray  and  Henry  Taylor,  Esquires. 

SPOTTSYLVANIA,  Mann  Page  and  George  Thornton,  Esquires. 

STAFFORD,  Thomas  Ludwell  Lee  and  William  Brent,  Esquires. 

SURRY,  Allen  Cocke  and  Nicholas  Faulcon,  Esquires. 

SUSSEX,  David  Mason  and  Henry  Gee,  Esquires. 

WARWICK,  William  Harwood  and  Richard  Gary,  Esquires. 

WESTMORELAND,  Richard  Lee,  Esquire  ;  Richard  Henry  Lee,  Esquire ;  and 

John  A.  Washington,  Esquire.* 
YORK,  Dudley  Digges,  Esquire ;    Thomas  Nelson,  jr.  Esquire ;  and  William 

Digges,  Esquire. 

JAMESTOWN,  Champion  Travis,  Esquire. 

WILLIAMSBURG,  Edmund  Randolph,  Esquire,  for  George  Wythe,  Esquire. 
NORFOLK  BOROUGH,  William  Roscow  Wilson  Curie,  Esquire. 
COLLEGE  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY,  John  Blair,  Esquire. 

*  John  A.  Washington  was  probably  the  alternate  of  R.  H.  Lee. 


\ 


RICHMOND   BOOKSTOKE 


J.  W,  RANDOLPH, 

llaiimtcr 


AND 

IIST  MUSIC, 
121  MAIN  STREET,  RICHMOND,  Va. 

In  addition  to  the  best  assortment  of  Law,  Medical,  Theo 
logical,  Historical,  Classical,  Agricultural,  School  and  Mis 
cellaneous  Books  in  Virginia,  ofiers  the  following  for  sale 
in  any  quantities: 

Quarterly  Law  Journal,  8vo.  paper,  per  year,  $5. 

Wythe's  Virginia  Reports,  new  and  only  complete  edition,  8vo. 
sheep,  $4. 

Jefferson's  Virginia  Reports,  8vo.  half  calf,  $2. 

Ilening  and  Munford's  Virginia  Reports,  new  edition,  4  vols.,  8vo., 
sp.  $20. 

Munford's  Virginia  Reports,  G  vols.  8vo.  sp.  $30. 

Randolph's  Virginia  Reports,  G  vols.  8vo.  sp.  $2-1. 

(rilmer's  Virginia  Reports,  8vo.  cf.  $2. 

Leigh's  Virginia  Reports,  12  vols.  8vo.  cf.  $48. 

Grattan's  Virginia  Reports,  11  vols.  8vo.  cf.  $44. 

Cases,  criminal,  etc.,  by  Judges  Brockenbrough  and  Holmes,  new  edi 
tion,  with  notes,  2  vols.  in  1,  8vo.  sp.  $G. 

Acts  of  Assembly  of  Va.,  various  years,  8vo.  hf.  sh.  75  to  $1  25. 

ilening  and  Shepherd's  Statutes  of  Va.,  1G  vols.  8vo.  sp.  $13. 

Heuing's  Lawyer's  Guide  and  American  Pleader,  2  vols.  8vo.  sp.  $8. 

Hall's  Digested  Index  to  the  Virginia  Reports,  2  vols.  8vo.  sp.  $3. 

Mathews'  Guide  to  Commissioners  in  Chancery,  8vo.  sp.  $2  50. 


J.  W.  Randolph's  List  of  Books. 


Rules  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Va.,  8vo.  pa.  12c. 

Mayo's  Magistrate's  Guide,  8vo.  sp.  $3. 

Virginia  Laws  on  Corporations,  8vo.  pa.  50c. 

Trial  of  T.  Ritchie,  Jr.,  for  killing  J.  H.  Pleasants,  8vo.  pa.  25c. 

Justice's  Record  Book  of  Judgments,  cap,  hf.  sp.  $1  and  1  50. 

Tucker's  Lectures  on   Natural   Law  and  Government,    12uio.  mus 
lin,  75c. 

Tucker's  Lectures  on  Constitutional  Law,  12mo.  mus.  75c. 

Virginia  Pay  and  Muster  Rolls,  2  vols.  in  1,  8vo.  sp.  $15. 

Virginia  House  of  Delegates  Journals,  various  years. 

Journals  of  Virginia  Conventions  of  1776,  4to.  hf.  sp.  and  1850,  8vo. 
hf.  sp.  2  50. 

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Debates  in  Virgiuia  Convention  of  1788,  8vo.  sp.  $5. 

Virginia  Debates  and  Resolutions  1798-9,  8vo.  hf.  cf.  1  50. 

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Statistics  of  United  States  Census  of  1850,  4to.  mus.  1  00. 

Smith's  History  of  Virginia,  2  vols.  8vo.  sp.  5  00. 

Smith's  News  from  Virginia,  8vo.  pa.  25c. 

Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  8vo.  mus.  1  50. 

Beverley's   History  of  Virginia,  new  edition,  edited  by  C.  Campbell, 
with  Plates,  8vo.  mus.  2  50. 

Martin  and  Brockenbrough's  History  of  Virginia,  8vo.  sp.  2  00. 

Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia,  new  edition,  with  map  and  plates,  and 
new  matter  nrver  before  printed,  8vo.  mus.  2  50. 

Virginia  Historical  Register,  6  vols.  8vo.  pa.  at  1  00. 

Virginia  Historical  Society  Addresses,  8vo.  pa.  at  25c. 

Jefferson's   Memoir,   Correspondence  and  Miscellanies,  4  vols.  8vo. 
boards,  5  00. 

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Byrd's  Westover  Manuscripts,  8vo.  bds.  1  25. 

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Dr.  Moorman's  Guide  to  Virginia  Springs,  18mo.  mus.  1  00. 

Dr.  Burke's  Guide  to  Virginia  Springs,  12mo.  mus.  1  25. 

Dr.  Goodc's  Guide  to  Virginia  Hot  Springs,  48mo.  pa.  12c. 

Maury's  Gulf  Stream  and  Currents  of  the  Sea,  8vo.  pa.  25c. 

Smith's  View  of  British  Possessions  in  America,  48mo.  sp.  25c. 

Southern   Literary  Messenger,   20  vols.   complete,    a  handsome   set 
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Life  and  Sermons  of  Rev.  Wm.  Duval,  by  Rev.  C.  Walker,  12mo. 
mus.  1  00. 

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Fletcher's  Studies  on  Slavery,  8vo.  sp.  2  00. 

Dew's  Essay  on  Slavery,  8vo.  pa.  50c. 

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Gertrude,  a  novel,  by  Judge  Tucker,  8vo.  pa.  37c. 

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121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  iii 


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by  J.  W.  Page,  with  plates,  second  edition  12mo.  mus.  1  00. 
Garnett's  Lectures  on  Female  Education,  32rno.  sp.  50c. 
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Rogers'  Virginia  Geological  Reports,  8vo.  pa.  1  00. 
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Laws  of  Trade,  by  Charles  Ellett,  8vo.  mus.  1  50. 
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NOW  PRINTING. 

Matthews'  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  Virginia,  8vo.  sp. 


iv  J.  W.  Randolph's  List  of  Books. 


WYTHE'S   VIRGINIA   REPO11TS. 

Decisions  of  Cases  in  Virginia,  l)y  tlte  High  Court  of  Chan 
cery,  with  remarks  upon  decrees  by  the  Court  of  Appeals 
reversing  some  of  those  decisions,  by  GEORGE  WYTHE, 
Chancellor  of  said  court.  Second  and  only  complete  edition. 
With  a  Memoir  of  the  Author,  Analysis  of  the  Cases,  and 
an  Index,  by  B.  13.  MINOR,  L.B.  And  with  an  Appendix, 
containing  references  to  cases  in  Pari  Materia,  an  Essay  on 
Lapse,  Joint  Tenants  and  Tenants  in  Common,  &c.7  &c.,  by 
WM.  GREEN,  ESQ.  8vo.  sheep,  $4. 

Judge  LOMAX,  in  tho  second  edition  of  his  Digest,  (vol.  1,  p.  618, 
note*,)  says:  "See,  in  the  Appendix  to  Minor's  edition  of  Wythe' s 
Reports,  a  most  learned  and  elaborate  consideration  of  the  origin, 
and  nature,  and  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  survivorship  in  joint- 
tenancy,  and  the  extent  to  which,  unrepealed  by  the  Virginia  statutes, 
it  remains  still  applicable  in  practice,  by  Wm.  Green,  Esq.,  of  the 
Virginia  Bar."  Other  notices  of  the  same  Appendix  occur  Hid.  432, 
note  6 ;  527,  note  * ;  580,  text  and  note. 

"This  Appendix,  from  the  pen  of  Wm.  Green,  Esq.,  of  Culpeper. 
contains,  among  other  useful  essays,  a  learned,  elaborate,  and 
thorough  discussion  of  the  subject  of  foreclosure  of  mortgages  in 
Virginia." — Sands'  Suit  in  Equity,  493. 

Chief  Justice  TAYLOR,  in  Orr's  heirs  v.  Irving's  heirs  and  devisees, 
2  Carolina  Law  Repository.  465,  delivering  the  opinion  of  the  court, 
says:  "To  these  [English]  cases  may  be  added  a  decision  made  by 
the  late  Chancellor  Wythe,  in  Virginia,  which  may  be  cited  as  equal 
in  point  of  authority,  if  not  superior,  to  any  of  the  British  decisions, 
from  the  luminous  and  conclusive  reasoning  on  which  that  upright 
aud  truly  estimable  judge  founds  it — clarum  et  venerabilc  nomen." 

Mr.  WALLACE,  Editor  of  "The  Reporters  Chronologically  Ar 
ranged,"  says,  in  his  third  edition  of  that  work,  page  346:  "A  very 
greatly  improved  edition  of  Wythe,  edited  by  B.  B.  Minor,  Esq.,  of 
the  Richmond  Bar,  with  a  memoir  by  the  editor,  and  an  appendix, 
containing  many  very  learned  notes,  by  Mr.  Green,  appeared  in  1852. 
No  American  Reporter  has  ever  been  so  learnedly  and  carefully 
edited." 

All  of  the  old  editions  of  this  work  are  imperfect,  and  yet  copies 
have  been  sold  at  auction  as  high  as  $10,  such  has  been  the  demand 
for  it. 


New  and  only  complete  edition. 
Published  by 


J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


MATTHEWS'  GUIDE. 

A  Guide  to  Commissioners  in  Chancery,  with  practical  forms 
for  the  discharge  of  their  duties;  adapted  to  the  new  Code 
of  Virginia,  by  JAMES  M.  MATTHEWS,  Attorney  at  Law, 
author  of  "Digest  of  the  Laws  of  Virginia."  8vo.  sheep, 
$2  50. 

"  Mr.  Matthews  has  in  this  publication  furnished  a  valuable  addi 
tion  to  the  small  stock  of  Virginia  Law  Books.  The  work  is  not  only 
of  essential  service  to  the  Commissioner,  it  is  also  a  valuable  vade 
mecum  to  the  Chancery  Lawyer.  The  following  opinion  is  expressed 
of  it  by  a  legal  friend:  '1  have  had  occasion  to  use  Mr.  Matthews' 
Guide  to  Commissioners  as  a  book  of  reference  in  the  course  of  my 
practice  at  the  bar.  I  have  uniformly  found  it  to  be  correct,  and  it 
materially  aided  me  while  attending  the  settlement  of  accounts  before 
the  Commissioner.' 

The  following  table  of  contents  may  be  acceptable  to  our  legal 
readers  in  the  country: 

Chapter  I.  Of  the  origin  of  Commissioners  in  Chancery,  their  ap 
pointment,  the  reference  of  accounts  to  them,  and  the  proceedings 
thereupon. — Chap.  II.  Of  fiduciaries  generally,  and  the  settlement 
of  their  accounts  by  Commissioners  in  Chancery. — Chap.  III.  Of 
Guardians  and  Wards. — Chap.  IV.  Proceedings  under  decrees  and 
orders  in  the  Commissioner's  Office,  and  herein: — Of  References  and 
Reports;  The  examination  of  parties  upon  interrogatories;  Admis 
sions  of  parties;  Of  the  onus probandi;  The  examination  of  witnesses 
upon  interrogatories;  Enquiries  as  to  heirs-at-law,  next  of  kin,  &c. ; 
Production  of  documents ;  Of  scandal  and  impertinence ;  Of  the 
principles  on  which  accounts  of  executor  or  administrator  should  be 
stated;  When  interest  not  to  be  involved  in  administration  account; 
When  account  of  executor  or  administrator  should  be  closed;  What 
payments  not  to  enter  into  the  general  account;  When  annual  rests 
are  to  be  made;  Formula  in  stating  account  of  executor  or  adminis 
trator;  Principles  on  which  guardians'  accounts  should  be  stated 
How  to  state  the  account  of  one  who  is  in  name  an  executor,  but  is 
in  fact  a  guardian  or  trustee ;  How  to  ascertain  value  of  life-estate 
or  annuity;  Table  of  longevity ;  Adjournment  by  Commissioner;  Re 
port  and  exceptions;  Review  of  report. — Chap.  V.  Of  surcharge  and 
falsification. — Chap.  VI.  Of  notices. — Chap.  VII.  Of  evidence. — 
Chap.  VIII.  Of  means  for  compelling  debtor  to  discover  and  surren 
der  his  estate. — Chap.  IX.  Of  fees  of  Commissioner  in  Chancery. — 
Chap.  X  Of  descents  and  distributions. — Chap.  XI.  Of  the  payment 
of  debts  according  to  their  priority. — Chap.  XII.  For  preventing 
Commission  of  crimes. 

Every  Commissioner  should  have  a  copy  of  this  work." 

[Republican. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


vi  J.  W.  RandolpJis  List  of  Books. 


RUFEIN'S  AGRICULTURAL  ESSAYS. 

Essays  and  Notes  on  Agriculture.      By  EDMUND  RUFFIN. 
12mo.  muslin.     $1  25. 

Containing  articles  on  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Draining  (in  all 
its  branches) — Advantages  of  Ploughing  Flat  Land  in  Wide  Beds — on 
Clover  Culture  and  the  Use  and  Value  of  the  Products — Management 
of  Wheat  Harvests — Harvesting  Corn  Fodder — on  the  manner  of  pro 
pagation  and  habits  of  the  Moth  or  Weevil,  and  means  to  prevent  its 
ravages — Inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  existence  of  Prairies,  Savan 
nas  and  Deserts,  and  the  peculiar  condition  of  Soils  "which  Favor  or 
Prevent  the  Growth  of  Trees — Depressed  condition  of  Lower  Vir- 
gini — Apology  for  "Book  Farmers" — Fallow — Usefulness  of  Snakes — 
Embanked  Tide  Marshes  and  Mill  Ponds  as  Causes  of  Disease — On 
the  Sources  of  Malaria,  or  of  Autumnal  Diseases,  and  me.-.ns  of  pre 
vention — On  the  Culture,  Uses  and  Value  of  the  Southern  Pea.  (Ruf- 
fin's  Prize  Essay  of  November,  1854,)  and  especially  as  a  Manuring 
Crop. 

This  volume  consists  of  didactic  and  principally,  also  strictly  prac 
tical  pieces,  in  part  selected  from  the  Farmer's  Register,  or  still  more 
that  have  either  not  been  published  in  Virginia  or  entirely  new  mat 
ter,  in  addition  to  and  extensions  of  former  publication,  and  the  re 
cent  Prize  Essay  on  the  Pea  Culture,  &c. 

"The  essays  of  no  man  of  this  day  in  Virginia,  upon  the  subject 
of  Agriculture,  can  command  the  attention  that  will  be  paid  to  those 
from  the  pen  of  the  venerable  farmer,  Edmund  lluffiri;  a  man  whose 
long  experience,  whose  close  observation  and  incessant  efforts  to  im 
prove  the  system  of  Agriculture,  have  placed  him  at  the  head  of  that 
noble  profession — Tiller  of  the  Soil." — Richmond  Dispatch. 

"In  a  country  like  ours,  the  pursuits  of  Agriculture  are  the  foun 
dation  of  prosperity,  arid  their  improvement  is  connected  with  every 
step  of  its  advancement.  Its  study  is,  therefore,  of  prime  importance, 
and  every  contributor  is  a  benefactor.  It  is  one  of  the  blessings  of 
the  age,  that  this  department  of  industry  has  commenced  a  new  epoch, 
from  the  applications  of  science  and  the  systematized  results  of  obser 
vation  and  experience.  For  this  latter  class  of  improvements,  Mr. 
Buffi u  stands  pre-eminent.  He  is  deeply  and  enthusiastically  versed 
in  all  the  questions  of  practical  farming,  and  with  a  generosity  which 
entitles  him  to  the  highest  credit,  gives  the  benefit  of  his  enlightened 
views  to  the  world.  The  volume,  before  us,  comprises  his  most  ma 
tured  convictions  on  a  variety  of  agricultural  topics  of  acknowledged 
importance  to  all  who  cultivate  the  soil.  It  is  a  treasury  of  that  kind 
of  information  of  which  thousands  in  the  country  stand  in  need,  and 
for  want  of  which  their  actual  labor  does  not  receive  half  of  its  re 
ward.  Buy  Mr.  Ruffin's  book,  gentlemen,  and  the  earth  herself  will 
return  the  compliment  with  a  smile.'' — Quarterly  Review. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  vii 


RUFFIN  ON  MANURES. 

An  Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures,  by  EDMUND  RUFFIN  a 
practical  Farmer  of  Virginia  from  1812;  Founder  and  sole 
Editor  of  the  Farmers'  Register;  Member  and  secretary 
of  the  former  State  Board  of  Agriculture ;  formerly  Agri 
cultural  Surveyor  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina;  and  pres 
ident  of  the  Virginia  State  Agricultural  Society.  Fifth 
edition,  amended  and  enlarged.  Fine  edition,  8vo.,  printed 
on  good  paper,  and  strongly  bound,  library  style,  $2 ;  cheap 
edition,  12mo.,  muslin,  $  1  25. 

A  large  proportion  of  this  publication  consists  of  new  matter  not 
embraced  in  the  preceding  editions.  The  new  additions  or  amend 
ments  serve  to  present  all  the  new  and  important  lights  on  the  gen 
eral  subject  of  the  work,  derived  from  the  author's  later  observation 
of  facts,  personal  experience,  and  reasoning  founded  on  these  prem 
ises.  By  such  new  additions  the  present  edition  is  increased  more 
than  one-third  in  size,  notwithstanding  the  exclusion  of  much  of  the 
least  important  matter  of  the  preceding  edition,  and  of  all  portions 
before  included,  that  were  not  deemed  essential  to  the  argument,  and 
necessary  to  the  utility  of  the  work. 

Prof.  JOHNSON,  of  London,  author  of  "Agricultural  Chemistry," 
"Chemistry  of  Common  Life,"  and  many  other  valuable  Works, 
speaking  of  the  influence  of  man  upon  the  productions  of  the  Soil 
and  the  application  of  Marl  to  worn-out  Lands,  says,  "for  examples 
of  both  the  results,  soe  Essay  on  Calcareous  Manures,  by  Edmund 
lluffin,  the  publication  of  which  in  Virginia,  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
Agricultural  history  of  the  Slave  States  of  North  America." 

"Mr.  lluffin  with  an  ingenuity,  an  energy  and  a  logic,  which  be 
long  only  to  the  order  of  great  intellects,  has  demonstrated,  both  by 
analysis  and  synthesis,  the  disease  and  the  cure ;  the  disease,  the 
want  of  Carbonate  of  Lime  in  our  soils,  and  their  consequent  acidity 
and  sterility ;  the  cure,  the  application  of  this  necessary  element  of 
all  good  lands,  in  the  form  of  marl,  which  is  generally  diffused 
throughout  the  tide-water  section  of  this  State  and  the  adjacant 
States." — Richmond  Whig. 

The  Southern  Planter  says :  "We  commend  it  to  every  farmer  in 
the  State.  To  the  tide-water  farmers  it  is  a  necessary  of  agricultu 
ral  life." 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH, 

Richmond  Va. 


viii  J.  W.  Randolph's  List  of  Books. 


PLANTATION  BOOK. 

Plantation  and  Farm  Instruction,  Regulation,  Record,  Inven 
tory  and  Account  Book,  for  the  use  of  Managers  of  Estates 
and  for  the  better  ordering  and  management  of  plantation 
and  farm  business  in  every  particular.  By  a  Southern 
Planter.  "Order  is  Heaven's  first  law."  4 to.  hf.  roan,  $2. 

This  Book  is  by  one  of  the  best  and  most  systematic  farmers  in 
Virginia,  and  experienced  farmers  have  expressed  the  opinion  that 
those  who  use  it  will  save  hundreds  of  dollars. 

"  This  is  a  most  admirable  work,  one  which  every  planter  and  far 
mer  should  not  only  possess,  but  carry  out  its  objects  and  aims,  both 
in  the  letter  and  in  the  spirit,  for  they  all  tend  to  the  introduction  of 
system  in  the  managment  of  landed  estates.  The  Book  purports  to 
have  been  gotten  up  as  a  guide  to  overseers  and  managers;  but  is  so 
filled,  so  arranged,  that  the  proprietors  of  such  estates  would  them 
selves  be  equally  benefited  by  personally  carrying  out  its  numerous 
plans,  hints  and  suggestions ;  for  after  carefully  looking  through  and 
studying  its  details,  we  most  conscientioiisly  say,  that  they  are 
founded  in  wisdom,  and,  if  practiced  upon,  would  be  promotive  alike 
of  economy  and  humanity — economy  in  the  management  of  the  farm 
or  plantation — and  humanity  in  providing  for  the  comfort  and  health 
of  slaves,  as  well  as  stock. 

It  contains  a  chapter  explanatory  of  the  manager's  duty — shows 
how  his  journal  or  daily  record  should  be  kept.  Upon  this  head,  as 
well  as  upon  the  employment  and  treatment  of  negroes  and  manage 
ment  of  the  plantation,  the  remarks  are  alike  copious  and  judicious ; 
so  also  are  those  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  stock  of  all  kinds  are 
to  be  cared  for.  Its  observations  upon  the  saving  and  application  of 
manure,  the  cultivation  of  the  plantation  or  farm,  as  well  as  upon 
the  proper  rotation  of  crops,  are  sensible,  and  show  an  acquaintance 
with  the  several  sxibjects  on  the  part  of  the  author.  The  tables,  illus 
trative  of  the  three,  four  and  five  field  system  of  rotation,  are  full  of 
instruction,  and  may  be  studied  with  decided  advantage. 

It  also  contains  many  useful  'tables,'  showing  the  number  of  spaces 
contained  in  an  acre  of  land  at  various  given  distances,  which  will 
be  found  useful  in  fixing  the  proper  distances  to  place  marl,  lime  or 
other  manure,  so  as  to  give  any  desired  quantity  to  the  acre,"  &c. 
Besides,  which,  there  are  ruled  blanks  for  recording  all  the  details  of 
farm  and  plantation  duties,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
year,  so  arranged  as  to  make  the  labor  so  plain  and  easy,  that  if 
anything  can  induce  farmers  and  planters  to  record  the  operations  of 
their  estates,  this  work  will  lure  them  to  it.  That  it  may  find  '«. 
ready  sale  we  most  fervently  wish,  as  it  is  pregnant  with  mucii 
good." — American  Farmer. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  ix 


JEFFERSON'S   NOTES. 

J\ro(cs  on  the  State  of  Virginia.  By  THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 
Illustrated  with  a  Map  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware 
and  Pennsylvania.  A  New  Edition,  prepared  by  the  Au 
thor,  containing  many  Notes  and  Plates  never  before  pub 
lished.  8vo.  muslin,  $^  50. 

It  is  printed  from  President  Jefferson's  Copy  (Stockdale's  London 
edition  of  1787)  of  the  Notes  on  Virginia,  with  his  last  additions 
(they  are  numerous)  and  corrections  in  manuscript,  and  four  maps  of 
Caves,  Mounds,  Fortifications,  £c. 

Letters  from  Gen.  Dearborn  and  Judge  Gibson,  relating  to  the  Mur 
der  of  Logan,  &c. 

Fry  and  Jefferson's  Map  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware  and  Penn 
sylvania—very  valuable  on  account  of  the  Public  Places  and  Private 
Residences,  which  are  not  to  be  found  on  any  other  map. 

A  Topographical  Analysis  of  Virginia,  for  1790 — a  curious  and  use 
ful  sheet  for  historical  reference. 

Translations  of  all  Jefferson's  Notes  in  Foreign  Languages,  by  Prof 
Schele  de  Vere,  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 

"The  recent  publication  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  well  known  and  interest 
ing  Notes  on  the  State  of  Virginia,  renders  a  special  and  most  accepta 
ble  service.  The  work,  which  was  nearly  out  of  print,  has  been 
enriched  with  the  manuscript  notes  of  the  illustrious  author;  and 
where  these  have  been  quoted  from  foreign  languages,  they  have  been 
translated  in  the  Appendix  by  the  learned  Prof.  Schele  de  Vere.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  praise  a  book  which  has  always  been  .highly 
esteemed." — Richmond  Examiner. 

"As  the  productioii  of  one  of  our  most  eminent  statesmen  and 
writers,  abounding  in  profound  thoughts  and  philosophical  deductions, 
it  will  ever  be  deemed  an  indispensable  volume  in  a  well  chosen 
library." — Religious  Herald. 

"A  new  edition  of  the  famous  work  has  just  been  published.  The 
paper,  print  and  binding  are  all  in  excellent  taste,  and  do  credit 
to  Mr.  11.  This  edition  has  the  advantage  of  the  author's  last  notes 
and  emendations,  and  has  been  carried  through  the  press  with  great 
care  and  caution,  by  a  gentleman  every  way  equal  to  the  task,  who 
is,  moreover,  a  near  relative  of  the  author.  Every  Virginian  who 
wishes  to  know  as  nnich  as  possible  about  his  own  State,  will  of  course 
buy  it,  for  Mr.  Jefferson  was  by  many  degrees  the  best  Virginian  anti 
quary  that  has  yet  been  known  to  the  public." — Richmond  Dispatch. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


J.  W.  Randolph's  List  of  Books. 


BEVERLEY'S  VIRGINIA. 

The  History  of  Virginia,  in  four  parts.  I.  The  history  of 
the  settlement  of  Virginia,  and  the  government  thereof,  to 
the  year  1706.  II.  The  natural  productions  and  conve 
niences  of  the  country,  suited  to  trade  and  improvement. 
III.  The  native  Indians,  their  religion,  laws  and  customs, 
in  war  and  peace.  IV.  The  present  state  of  the  country, 
as  to  the  polity  of  the  government,  and  the  improvements 
of  the  land,  to  10th  of  June,  1720.  By  ROBERT  SEVER 
ITY,  a  native  of  the  place.  Reprinted  from  the  author's 
second  revised  London  edition  of  1792,  with  an  introduc 
tion  by  CHAS.  CAMPBELL,  author  of  the  "  Colonial  History 
of  Virginia."  8vo.  muslin,  $2  50. 

"  Mr.  Randolph  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  people  of  Virginia  for 
rescuing  her  early  literature  from  the  oblivion  into  which  it  is  so 
rapidly  falling.  His  recent  re-publication  of  Jefl'erson's  Notes,  with 
the  author's  latest  autograph  corrections,  was  not  more  gratifying  to 
the  Virginia  scholar  and  statesman,  than  the  re-publication  of  this 
rare  volume — as  precious  in  Virginia  history  as  any  genuine  old 
painting  of  Raphael  or  Rembrandt  in  Art — will  prove  to  the  Virginia 
historian  and  student.  Beverley  is  the  very  best  authority  of  all 
early  Virginia  writers  upon  the  particular  subjects  delineated  in  his 
quaint  and  agreeable  pages;  and  his  work  affords  the  most  vivid, 
comprehensive,  instructive  and  entertaining  picture  of  Virginia  at 
the  date  of  his  writing  that  is  to  be  found.  The  reprint  is  illustrated 
precisely  after  the  manner  of  the  original,  by  engravings  executed  in 
lithograph  with  remarkable  truthfulness  and  beauty.  The  typo 
graphical  execution  of  the  book  is  very  chaste  and  neat.  We  are 
sure  that  no  Virginia  gentleman  of  taste  and  learning  will  fail  to  add 
&o  valuable  a  volume  to  his  library," — Richmond  Examiner. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


MARTIN  AND  BROCKENBROUGH'S  VIRGINIA. 

A  Comprehensive  Description  of  Virginia  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 
containing  a  copious  collection  of  Geographical,  Statistical,  Political, 
Commercial,  Religious,  Moral  and  Miscellaneous  information,  chiefly 
from  original  sources,  by  JOSEPH  MARTIN;  to  which  is  added  A  His 
tory  of  Virginia,  from  its  first  settlement  to  the  year  1754,  with  an 
abstract  of  the  principal  events  from  that  period  to  the  Independence 
of  Virginia,  by  W.  H.  BROCKENBROUGII,  formerly  Librarian  at  the 
University  of  Virginia,  and  afterwards  Judge  of  the  United  States 
Court  in  Florida.  8vo.  sheep,  $2. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  xi 


VIRGINIA  DEBATES  OF  1798. 

The  Virginia  Report  of  1799-1800,  touching  the  Alien  and 
Sedition  Laws,  together  with  the  Virginia  Resolutions  of 
December  21,  1798,  the  debate  and  proceedings  thereon  in 
the  House  of  Delegates  of  Virginia,  and  several  other  doc 
uments  illustrative  of  the  Report  and  Resolutions.  New 
edition.  8vo.  half  calf,  §1  50. 

"We  have  received  a  neat  and  well  printed  copy  of  the  'Virginia 
Report  on  the  Resolutions  of  '98-'99,  concerning jthe  Alien  and  Sedi 
tion  Laws.'  We  were  struck  with  the  truth  of  the  remark  of  the 
editor  of  the  first  mentioned  volume,  that  this  'report  had  been  more 
praised  than  read.'  Every  statesman  should  be  familiar  with  its 
contents.  It  is  certainly  a  valuable  commentary  on  the  Federal  Con 
stitution,  and  both  parties  may  find  here  some  of  the  strongest  argu 
ments  in  support  of  their  several  theories." — Richmond  Republican. 

Published  by 

J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


DEW  ON  SLAAHERY. 

An  Essay  on  Slavery,  by  THOMAS  R.  DEW,  late  President  of 
William  and  Mary  College,  Williamsburg,  Va.  Second 
edition.  8vo.  paper,  50c. 

'•  This  Essay  has  peculiar  claims  to  the  attention  of  the  Virginian, 
and  is  not  wanting  in  interest  to  the  statesman  every  where.  We  do 
not  think  we  err  in  saying,  that  it  is  the  clearest  and  ablest  defence 
of  the  institution  to  be  found  in  the  English  language.  The  writer 
vicAvs  that  institution  in  its  historical  and  its  scriptural  aspects,  and 
discusses  at  large  the  plans  for  the  abolition  of  negro  slavery.  AVhile 
we  cannot  accord  with  all  the  views  he  has  expressed  in  regard  to 
the  colonization  movement,  we  yet  think  the  facts  he  arrays,  and  the 
principles  he  urges,  are  entitled  to  the  gravest  consideration,  as  tl it- 
results  of  unwearied  labor,  and  of  a  mind  well  balanced  and  well 
trained.  We  believe  that  all  parties  are  agreed  as  to  the  evil  of 
emancipation,  without  removal.  The  painting  of  the  scenes  which 
would  ensue  such  an  event,  is  drawn  with  a  master  hand. — Republican. 

Published  by 

J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


xii  J.  W.  Randolph's  List  of  Books. 


GUIDE  TO  THE  SPRINGS. 

The  Virginia  Springs.  Containing  an  account  of  all  the 
Principal  Mineral  Springs  in  Virginia,  with  remarks  on  the 
nature  and  medical  applicability  of  each.  By  J.  J.  MOOR 
MAN,  M.D.  Second  edition,  greatly  enlarged,  with  a  synopsis 
and  maps  of  the  routes  and  distances,  and  plates.  Also,  an 
appendix,  containing  an  account  of  the  natural  curiosities  of 
the  State.  18ino.  muslin,  $1. 

"Visitors  to  the  Springs,  for  health  or  relaxation,  will  find  it 
greatly  to  their  advantage  to  procure  such  a  valuable  vadc  mecum  as 
this;  and  those  who,  like  ourselves,  remain  at  home,  can  also  appre 
ciate  tin  work,  if  they  can  appreciate  anything  which  bears  upon 
Physical  Geography  in  its  combination  with  the  healing  art.  The 
work  is  gotten  up  in  capital  style,  and  the  public  may  be  assured  that 
it  is  no  catch-penny  production." — Watchman  and  Observer. 

"The  work  contains  much  valuable  information  to  persons  in  search 
cither  of  health  or  pleasure,  presented  in  an  agreeable  shape.  The 
more  celebrated  of  the  watering  places  are  lithographed,  and  maps 
of  the  various  routes  and  localities  furnished." — LyncJiburg  Virginian. 

"The  author  of  this  publication  was  for  many  years  resident  physi 
cian  at  the  White  Sulphur  Springs,  Virginia,  and  from  his  knowledge 
and  experience  of  the  mineral  qualities  of  the  various  springs  in  that 
region,  is  amply  qualified  to  give  a  correct  description  and  accurate 
analysis  of  their  several  waters.  This  is  an  admirable  directory  for 
the  use  of  visitors  and  invalids  who  resort,  during  the  summer  sea 
son,  to  the  invigorating  and  healthful  waters  of  the  Virginia  moun 
tains."- — Journal  of  Useful  Knoioledge. 

"Every  person  visiting  the  Virginia  Springs  should  be  supplied 
with  this  little  volume." — Fredcricksburg  Democratic  Recorder. 

"It  is  just  such  a  book  as  the  public  have  needed  much  for  some 
time,  and  supplies  a  desideratum  which  is  every  year  becoming  more 

necessary Dr.  Moorman's  book  is  written  in  an  agreeable 

style,  and  his  long  and  intimate  experience  at  the  Springs  making 
him  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  subject  he  treats,  renders  it 
valuable  to  the  searcher  after  health." — Cotton  Plant. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


SOUTHERN  SCHOOL  BOOKS. 

Vaughan's  Spellers,  Definers  and  Readers. 
First  Book,  for  beginners,  19c. 
Second  Book,  for  more  advanced  pupils,  25c. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  x'ii 


CITY  MISSIONARY. 


The  Memoir  and  Sermons  of  tlit  Rev.  William  Duval,  City 
Missionary.  13j  the  Rev.  C.  WALKER,  with  a  portrait. 
12mo.  muslin,  §1. 

"  We  noticed  tlie  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Duval,  at  the  time  of  ito 
publication,  but  we  are  induced  again  to  refer  to  it,  from  the  inter 
est  which  a  more  careful  perusal  than  we  are  generally  able  to  give 
to  the  favors  of  publishing  houses,  has  afforded  us.  We  had  feared, 
upon  first  opening  it,  that  it  might  prove  one  of  those  common-place, 
stereotyped  religious  eulogies,  with  which  the  world  is  so  often  bored, 
when  good  men  die,  and  with  which  the  shades  of  the  good  men 
themselves,  if  they  are  aware  of  what  is  going  on  in  their  old  haunts, 
must  be  purgatorially  afflicted.  But  having  glanced  at  a  few  chap 
ters  in  this  memoir  of  young  Mr.  Duval,  and  having  known  the  man, 
we  were  tempted  to  read  farther,  and  found  in  the  simple  and  unam 
bitious  record  of  a  simple  and  unambitious  life,  and  in  the  extract* 
from  the  diary  of  the  subject  of  the  memoir,  a  delineation  of  char 
acter  which  is  well  culculated  to  awaken  more  interest  in  the  mind 
than  the  most  eloquent  formal  eulogy." — Richmond  Dispatch. 

"For  the  subject  of  this  memoir  we  entertained  a  high  personal 
regard — esteeming  him  a  zealous  and  faithful  herald  of  the  cross. 
His  connection  was  with  the  Episcopal  church ;  and  at  one  time  he 
was  the  Editor  of  a  Temperance  paper  in  this  city.  He  had  been  in 
the  Ministry  only  a  few  years  when  called  to  his  rest;  but  these  were 
years  of  unceasing  activity.  As  to  the  mechanical  execution  of  the 
work,  we  can  say  it  is  well  done,  and  when  we  say  well  done,  we  mean, 
as  well  as  similar  works  are  usually  gotten  up  at  the  North." 

[  Watchman  and  Observer. 

"Win.  Duval,  one  of  the  most  efficient,  as  well  as  devoted  among 
the  younger  clergy  of  our  own  day,  graduated  at  the  Alexandria  The 
ological  Seminary  in  1845 In  the  beginning  of  1849,  he  died, 

in  the  full  assurance  of  Christian  hope,  and  the  fruition  of  Chris 
tian  exertion.  And  if  his  life  teaches  no  other  lesson,  it  teache? 
this :  the  immense  influence  which  even  four  years  entire  devotion  to 
the  Christian  cause  can  bring  to  bear.  In  point  of  literary  merit, 
the  biography  with  which  Mr.  Walker  has  presented  us,  stands  very 
high,  both  for  grace  of  style,  for  loveliness  of  spirit,  and  for  discrim 
ination  of  thought." — Episcopal  Recorder. 

"  The  subject  of  this  Memoir  was  a  most  excellent  man,  a  devoted 
self-sacrificing  Christian  and  an  ardent  and  zealous  philanthropist. 
The  records  of  a  life,  such  as  are  here  related  of  Mr.  Duval,  cannot 
fail  to  be  interesting  to  every  one  who  has  a  sympathy  for  the  poor 
arid  the  frailties  which  are  often  attendant  upon  poverty." 

[  Charlottesville  Jejfersonian. 

Published  l>y 

J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


xiv  J.  W.  Randolph's  List  of  Books. 


SCHOOLER'S  GEOMETRY. 

Elements  of  Descriptive  Geometry, — The  Point,  the  Straight 
Line  and  the  Plane — Samuel  Schooler,  M.  A.,  instructor  in 
Mathematics  at  Hanover  Academy,  Va.  4to.  hf.  roan,  $2. 

The  Paper,  Type  and  Plates  are  in  the  finest  style  of  the  arts,  and 
the  book  altogether  has  been  pronounced  equal  if  not  superior  to  any 
English,  French  or  American  work  on  the  subject. 

From  ALBERT  E.  CHURCH,  M.  A.  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the 
U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point  : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR: — I  have  examined  your  work  with  great  interest 
and  pleasure.  The  detailed  explanations  of  all  the  elementary 
principles  of  this  useful  bi-anch  of  mathematics  are  so  lucid,  and  the 
illustrations  so  beautiful  and  correctly  drawn,  that,  with  this  book  in 
his  hand,  I  do  not  see  that  any  pupil  familiar  with  the  elements  of 
Geometry,  can  find  difficulty  in  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  funda 
mental  principles  of  Descriptive  Geometry.  The  work  does  you 
great  credit,  and  I  trust  that  you  will  find  sufficient  encouragement 
in  its  success,  to  carry  out  your  design  of  publishing  further  on  the 
subject.  I  admire  much  the  manner  in  which  the  plates  are  gotten 
up,  and  have  seen  no  work  in  which  the  printing  of  figures  on  a  black 
ground  has  been  so  successful." 

From  Lieut.  M.  F.  MAURY,  Superintendent  of  the  National  Observa 
tory,  Washington  : 

"DEAR  SIR: — Pray  accept  my  thanks  for  the  copy  of  your  work  on 
Descriptive  Geometry.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  are  moving  in  this  di 
rection  with  school  books,  and  congratulate  you  heartily.  I  hope 
you  will  meet  with  the  encouragement,  and  your  work  with  the 
success  which  it  deserves ;  for  all  your  demonstrations,  as  far  as, 
from  a  hasty  examination  one  can  judge,  are  neat,  clear  and  mathe 
matical." 

From  WM.  B.  ROGERS.  LL.  D.,  late  Professor  of  Natural  Philos 
ophy  in  the  University  of  Virginia  : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : — Yours  is  the  first  original  publication  of  a  sys 
tematic  kind,  on  any  mathematical  subject,  which  has  yet  emanated 
from  Virginia,  and  I  take  pride  in  the  thought  that  its  author  is  an 
alumnus  of  the  University,  and  one  of  my  own  esteemed  pupils.  It 
is  no  common  merit,  to  have  pursued  with  ardor  the  difficult  mathe 
matical  studies  in  which  you  were  initiated  at  the  University,  and  to 
have  thus  early  shown  the  fruits,  not  only  of  enlarged  reading,  but 
of  original  thought  upon  such  subjects.  From  what  I  have  seen  of 
your  work,  I  am  much  pleased  with  its  clearness  and  conciseness  of 
.statement  and  demonstration,  and  I  think  that  it  must  prove  a  valua 
ble  text  for  students." 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


121  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va.  xv 


UNCLE    ROBIN. 

Uncle  Robin  in  his  Cabin  in  Virginia,  and  Tom  without  one 
in  Boston.  By  J.  W.  PAGE.  Second  edition,  with  plates. 
12mo.  muslin,  81  00. 

"Its  object  appears  to  be  to  disprove  statements  made  in  Northern 
romances,  touching  the  evils  of  Slavery,  as  well  as  to  show  that  what 
ever  ills  attend  the  life  of  a  Southern  Negro,  their  ills  are  produced 
by  the  imprudent  sympathy  of  self-styled  philanthropists  like  Garri 
son,  Pillsbury,  Abby  Kelly,  and  Beecher  Stowe.  We  have  examined 
the  volume  but  cursorily,  and  are  inclined  to  think  it  well  worth  a 
perusal.  It  is  written  in  a  plain,  substantial  style,  and  with  an  earn 
estness,  though  in  the  shape  of  a  colloquy  among  the  characters 
introduced,  which  is  strongly  marked." — Church's  £izarre,  Phila. 

"The  author  is  a  pious  and  intelligent  layman  of  the  Church  of 
Virginia,  who,  for  many  years  has  sustained  the  relation  of  master 
with  Christian  fidelity  and  benevolence.  His  opportunities  of  observ 
ing  the  actual  condition  of  slaves  in  Virginia,  have  extended  through 
a  long  life  and  over  a  large  portion  of  the  State.  The  book  is  called 
forth,  as  many  similar  productions  have  been,  by  that  clever,  but 
false  and  pernicious  work,  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  Unlike  some  others, 
however,  it  presents  the  subject  with  great  calmness  and  moderation, 
presenting  slavery  as  it  is  known  really  to  exist  in  the  Southern 
States.  Its  evils,  and  even  its  horrors,  are  faithfully  portrayed  ; 
whilst  the  institution  is  successfully  defended  against  the  calumnious 
reproaches  with  which  Northern  abolitionists  have  assailed  it.  The 
principal  negro  characters  are  such  as  we  occasionally  meet  with 
among  slaves,  whilst  the  diversity  of  conduct  on  the  part  of  masters, 
faithfully  and  truly  represent  that  much  vilified  class  of  Southern 
men.  The  style  of  the  book  is  very  modest  and  unpretending,  and 
perhaps  would  suffer  under  the  criticism  of  a  severe  reviewer.  It  is, 
nevertheless,  neat  and  perspicuous,  conveying  much  sound  argument 
and  truthful  history." — Southern  Churchman. 

"I  have  looked  over  Mr.  Page's  book  lately.  It  is  an  excellent 
little  work.  Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  its  true  and  correct  picture 
of  the  slave  holders  of  Virginia.  The  design  and  influence  of  such  a 
book  arc  good;  and  it  is  worthy  a  place  on  every  book-shelf  in  the 
State.  The  appetite  of  the  age  seems  to  require  something  marvel 
lous  and  exciting,  not  to  say  a  vivid  and  indelicate  exhibition  of 
crime,  and  books  of  an  opposite  character  seem  flat  and  stale.  But 
I  trust  a  new  era  has  commenced,  when  wholesome  truth  will  be 
received  in  place  of  the  highly  spiced  and  inflammatory  nonsense 
which  has  for  years  poured  like  a  flood  upon  us." — Winchester  Virg. 

Published  by 

J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


A   QUARTERLY  LAW  JOURNAL. 


Edited  by  A.  B.  GTJIGON,  of  the  Richmond  Bar. 

Contributors: — WM.  GREEN,  of  Culpeper;  Judge  J.  W.  BROCKEN- 
BROUGJI,  of  Lexington ;  Prof.  J.  B.  MINOR,  University  of  Virginia  ; 
W.  T.  JOYNES,  author  of  "Essay  on  Limitations;"  J.  M.  MATTHEWS, 
author  of  "Guide  to  Commissioners  in  Chancery,"  and  "Digest  of 
the  Laws  of  Virginia;  "  A.  II.  SANDS,  author  of  "  History  of  Suit  in 
Equity,"  and  other  professional  gentlemen  of  well-known  ability  and 
learning,  have  agreed  to  contribute  to  the  columns  of  the  Journal. 

The  undersigned  will  commence,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1856,  the 
publication  of  a  Law  Journal. 

It  is  designed  to  furnish  reports  of  decisions  made  by  the  Federal 
Courts  held  in  this  City — by  the  District  and  Circuit  Courts  of  tho 
State,  and  reports  of  decisions  made  by  the  Special  Court  of  Appeals, 
and  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Appeals  in  cases  of  interest  and  impor 
tance.  The  earlier  numbers  will  contain  also  a  complete  digested 
index  of  the  reports  of  Grattan.  Tate's  Index  of  the  cases  decided 
in  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  Va.,  reaches  the  2d  volume  of  Grattan, 
and  since  that  time  nine  volumes  have  already  been  published,  which 
the  lawyer  must  burrow  through  when  searching  for  any  of  the  decis 
ions  contained  in  them.  This  supplement  to  Tate's  Analytical  Index 
will  relieve  the  professional  man  of  this  labor,  and  this  part  of  the 
contents  of  the  Journal  will  be  so  printed  and  paged  that  it  may  be 
bound  up  in  a  separate  form. 

Each  number  of  the  Journal  will  contain  a  chapter  or  more  of  the 
Revisors'  Reports,  with  their  notes,  and  such  alterations  of  the  Code 
of  Va.  as  have  been  made  by  statutory  enactments  since  the  year  1849. 
This  companion  to  the  Code  will  also  be  so  paged  and  printed  that  it 
may  be  bound  up  uniform  with  the  Code.  The  importance  of  these 
Reports  is  well  known  by  members  of  the  profession  who  have  had 
occasion  to  consult  them,  as  shedding  light  upon  the  provisions  of 
the  Code. 

There  will  be  occasionally  introduced  forms,  of  utility  to  practi 
tioners,  Clerks  of  Courts,  Conveyancers  and  others. 

For  the  rest,  the  Journal  will  contain  the  usual  matter  of  such  p  V 
lications : — the  latest  reports  of  new  and  important  decisions  in  ot  r 
States,  (especially  the  Southern  and  Western.)  essays  on  interesting 
legal  subjects,  and  occasional  biographies  of  those  distinguished 
members  of  the  bar,  now  deceased,  who,  in  their  day  and  generation, 
won  for  it  merited  distinction  and  honor,  and  whose  memories,  cul 
pably  neglected  by  their  descendants,  live  only  in  tradition. 

The  work  will  be  published  QUARTERLY,  on  good  white  paper,  each 
number  containing  over  125  pages,  8vo. 

All  who  are  disposed  to  favor  this  enterprise,  will  please  forward 
their  names  immediately. 

New  books,  when  forwarded  to  the  Publisher,  will  be  noticed  ac 
cording  to  their  merits. 

TERMS — $5  per  year;  six  copies  for  $25.  Liberal  commission 
allowed  to  all  who  will  act  as  agents. 

Published  by  J.  W.  RANDOLPH. 


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